What If
by FanGirlMott
Summary: What if Ellis still worked? What if Derek had already got divorced? What if...
1. Chapter 1

Meredith was sat in the bar, trying to drink away her verves. The following day was her first day at her new job, the day she would begin her internship at Seattle Grace Hospital. She had spent 4 years in med school, and the day was finally here. Her mind was full of possible outcomes of what could happen, she was just staring at the wall.

'Tequila?' Meredith heard from beside her, a handsome dark-haired man sat beside her

'What?'

'Are you drinking tequila?' He asked her again while smirking at her

Meredith nodded and smiled at the stranger who offered to buy her a drink

'Derek' He said holding his hand out

'Meredith' Meredith replied shaking his hand

'So, what's your story?' Derek asked her, smiling at the beauty of a women that sat in front of him

'I don't have a story, I'm just a girl in a bar. Drinking away the nerves of starting a new job. What about you?'

'I'm just a guy in a bar, drinking away the past. Drinking away the memory of my ex-wife' He said taking a sip of his drink and smirking

Before they knew it, they were back at Meredith's house making out in her bedroom. Meredith had never had a night like this before, she was drunk and with a handsome guy. She had had such a great night that she forgot to set her alarm for the morning. She suddenly woke up to find herself naked but wrapped up in the bed sheets, lay next to the nameless guy. She rolled over and looked at the alarm clock, it read '6:30'

'Oh god!' She shouted waking Derek up

'W..What?' Derek said startled after being woken up

'You have to leave, I'm late for work' Meredith said as she scrambled out of bed and stood looking awkwardly at the man in her bed

'Will I ever see you again?' He asked as he climbed out of the bed and put his clothes back on

'I don't know. What I do know is that you need to hurry up. I'm going for a shower and by the time I get out you will be gone' Meredith said leaving the room for the bathroom

Derek finished getting dressed and made his way out of the house, wondering if he would ever see the amazing woman again. Meredith finished taking a shower and then made her way to her first day at work at the hospital. He made it just in time, changed into her scrubs and found the rest of the interns.

The interns were having the annual tour around the hospital by Dr Richard Webber, the chief of surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital. They were in an operating room being told the chances that they will become a surgeon. They had 4 years as an intern then become residents before possibly becoming an attending. Only the best would be able to become the head of a speciality.

They continued their tour to the main room of the hospital were patient's charts were stored and all the doctors and nurses were stationed. All the interns stood behind Dr Webber, another doctor was sat at the computer working on charts.

'Dr Grey' Dr Webber introduced the working doctor 'These are the new interns'

Meredith looked towards the floor not wanting to make eye contact with the doctor

'That's Ellis Grey. Head of General Surgery' The doctor that was stood beside her whispered to her, Meredith just stared at her 'Cristina Yang' She said

'Meredith' Meredith said shaking her hand

'That doctor is Ellis Grey isn't it? She's the greatest doctor to come from this hospital, she has done some amazing surgeries and written some interesting books. I heard her daughter starts as an intern this year' Cristina said to Meredith

'Err…yeah she does' Meredith said

'Imagine being her daughter'

'Yeah imagine' Meredith said not nearly as enthusiastic as Cristina

'So now you will find your resident and start your first intern year. Doctors Yang, Karev, Stevens, Grey and O'Malley you are with Doctor Bailey' Richard said, so the five of them walked to find Doctor Bailey

'She must be Ellis' daughter' Cristina said to Meredith about the blonde intern 'There's no way someone like her gets into medical school without having a parent who can pull some strings'

'I heard one of the interns is a model' Alex Karev said walking up to the pair 'Can't wait to find that doctor'

'I heard one is a jack ass' Cristina said as they walked up to Doctor Bailey

'I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one don't bother sucking up. I already hate you, that's not gonna change. Rule number two you have pagers...The nurses will page you and YOU answer those pagers on a RUN! Rule number three if I'm…' Miranda Bailey started before being interrupted

'Doctor Bailey, I need one of your interns to scrub in with the removal of a large tumour' Ellis Grey said walking over

'Okay' Miranda said 'You' She said pointing at Meredith

'No not her, another one' Ellis said

'You' Miranda said again pointing to George O'Malley. George walked off behind Ellis

'Already in Ellis Grey's bad books' Bailey said to Meredith 'What did you do?'

'I…' Meredith didn't know what to say, she didn't want everyone to know that she was Ellis Grey's daughter

'Well?' Bailey said

'She didn't want me to do my internship here' Meredith said

'Why would…wait' Cristina said 'You're the infamous Ellis Grey's daughter'

'Yeah…'

'Why did she not want to have you in the surgery?' Izzie asked

'Someone been a bad girl for mommy' Alex mocked her

'Shut up' Meredith shut him down 'We just…we don't have the best relationship. I don't want to talk about it, can we just get to assignments please'

'Yang, pit. Karev, scut. Stevens, cardio with Dr Burke. Grey, neuro with Dr Shepherd' Bailey said before walking off to see her patient. Each of the interns went their separate ways to follow Baileys orders.

Meredith made her way to find Dr Shepherd.

'Doctor Shepherd' She said as she came up behind the doctor 'I'm on your service'

'Yes Doctor Grey' He said turning round

'Oh god' Meredith said recognising the man stood in front of her

'Meredith?' Derek questioned 'We need to talk' He said walking into the closest closet

'Why didn't you tell me you worked in this hospital?' Meredith said

'Why didn't you tell me you were starting here?' Derek said

'I never thought I would see you again after our night. It can't happen again, its inappropriate. You're an attending and I'm an intern'

'it could be our little secret, nobody would have to know'

'Derek…'

'Let me say this. I don't know how you felt after last night but I feel something. I haven't felt that way in a long time, I didn't feel that way with my ex-wife. I like you Meredith, I want to have something with you'

'Derek, I can't. If I'm going to have a relationship, it needs to be with someone that my mother can't but in with'

'Your mother?'

'Ellis Grey, she's my mother. If we start something then she will be there all the time, watching us. I'm sorry Derek, I can't' Meredith said, 'Can we just get to the patient'

'Meredith, I will fight for you' Derek said before going to his patient followed by Meredith

'This is 32 year old Paul Daniels, suffers from repetitive seizures after a fall during a basketball game. What's your diagnosis?' Derek asked Meredith

'An aneurysm' Meredith said confidently

'Correct, book him in for a CT and page me when you're done' Derek ordered

'Shepherd' Doctor Webber said, stood at the door

'Doctor Webber, what can I do for you?' Derek said while Meredith was helping the patient

'Can I please take Doctor Grey for the day?' He asked 'We have a VIP patient'

Derek looked over at Meredith who looked up from the patient 'Yes of course'

Meredith followed Webber out of the room to the VIP room. She was happy that she didn't have to work with Derek today after what they had spoken about, but she also felt annoyed because she wanted to concentrate on neuro. The pair of them entered the room where Doctor Bailey was checking the patients chart.

'Doctor Grey this is Lynne Gagliano, diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. In to have the tumour removed' Doctor Bailey filled her in, not knowing that Ellis Grey was stood outside the room.

'Surgery is in 5 hours' Richard told her

'It doesn't usually take 3 surgeons to remove a tumour' Meredith said

'This one will' Miranda said 'It is a very large tumour'

'Oh okay' Doctor Grey said

'Lynne, Doctor Grey will prepare you for surgery while me and Doctor Bailey prepare the OR' Richard said, before leaving the room with Bailey

'Will I die?' Lynne asked Meredith

'Just like any surgery there are risks, but you have two very talented surgeons. Everything will be fine' She replied taking hold of the patient's hand 'Is there anyone you would like me to call for you?'

'No, I don't have anyone'

'Oh I'm sorry about. I'll just go and get you a gown' Meredith said about the leave the room

'Doctor Grey?' Lynne said 'Will you be here when I come out?'

'I will be in the surgery with you, and I will make sure I am around when you wake up' Meredith said

Ellis was stood at the nurses station outside the room, watching the doctor and patient talk. She thought Meredith was getting too close to the patient.

'Doctor Grey can I talk to you' Meredith said to her mother

'I have work to do' Ellis sad before walking off, leaving Meredith upset at the station

As Ellis was walking through the hospital towards the OR board, Doctor Webber shouted her

'Doctor Grey!' Richard shouted

'Yes Richard'

'Are you going to be watching Meredith in surgery today?'

'Pardon?'

'Meredith is helping on a tumour removal'

'She can't do it Richard, she is too attached to the patient. She told the patient that she would be there when she woke up, she is too attached'

'Ellis…'

'She will not be scrubbing in, I will scrub instead' Ellis said before walking off

It was time for Lynne's surgery, and Meredith made her way to the scrub room. She walked into the room to find Webber, Bailey and her mother

'Doctor Grey' Richard said as she walked in

'Mom, what are you doing?' Meredith asked confused

'Scrubbing in'

'I thought I was…'

'You can watch from the gallery' Ellis said walking into the OR

'I'm sorry Meredith' Bailey said as her and Richard went into the OR leaving Meredith stood in the scrub room

She knew doing her internship at this hospital would be a mistake, working with her mother was never going to work. But she never thought she would take surgeries off of her. She left the scrub room, trying to hold her tears in. As she reached the OR board and saw her name next to the surgery, the tears just fell from her eyes. She quickly walked down the corridor and pushed over an equipment trolley and walked into the closet. Derek walked to the OR board and saw everything Meredith did, it hurt him to see her upset. He followed her down to the closet and found her sat on the floor crying.

'Meredith' Derek said, sitting down next to her

'I'm fine Derek' She said wiping her tears

'Okay then' He said, the pair sat in silence for a few minutes

'How could she do this to me?' Meredith said looking at Derek

'How could who do what?'

'My mother, she took a surgery from me'

'She's Ellis Grey, she is always taking surgeries from people. She wants to be better than everyone, and she will do whatever it takes to do so. You can't let her boss you around, she may be your mother but in this hospital, she is just another doctor. Don't let her take your surgeries, don't let her run you down and don't let her tell you who you can or can't date' Derek said wiping the tear that rolled down her face

'But she's an attending, she can just take my surgeries. She's my boss, and she doesn't even act like she is my mother. What can I do to stop her?'

'Stay away from general'

'What?'

'Don't work on general. While you work on general she can boss you around, but if you aren't then she can't. Work on ortho, or cardio or how about neuro?' He said smiling at her

'Do you think chief would take me off her service?'

'You would just have to ask him'

'Yeah' Meredith said 'What service would I join though? I can't do cardio because Christina is and she won't let anyone near a cardio case and Callie doesn't like me so I won't get anywhere on ortho'

'There's always neuro' Derek said and smirked at Meredith

'Or there is peds'

'Or neuro'

'You really want me to work with you don't you?' Meredith asked smiling at him

'Would it be such a bad thing?'

'Derek…' Meredith said standing up 'I can't do this with you. I'm sorry' She left the closet leaving Derek sat on the floor

Meredith walked to the intern locker room to find her fellow interns getting ready to head home. Meredith wasn't in the mood to be alone, but she also didn't want to go home to her mother. Her mother was the last person she wanted to see right now. She made her way to her locker, which was on the other side of the room, so she had to walk passed everyone else.

'You guys fancy heading to the bar across the road?' Izzie asked the other four interns

'Definitely, could do with a drink after the day I've had' Meredith said as she changed her clothes

'Count me in too' George said eagerly after Meredith did

The five of them made their way to Joe's bar, across the road from the hospital. They each ordered a drink and sat around a table at the back of the bar. They spent the rest of the night at the bar, finally leaving and all going home. Meredith got home and set her alarm for 5am so she could be out the house before her mother would be awake, she was doing everything she could to stay away from her.

The next morning Meredith arrived at the hospital before any of the other interns, she walked out of the locker room and bumped into Doctor Webber.

'Grey' He said looking at her 'I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I tried to talk your mother out of it but you know what she's like'

'Chief, you don't have to explain. I shouldn't have done my internship here, it's my fault'

'Meredith, this isn't your fault. Seattle Grace was the best match for you'

'Thanks Chief. I was wondering if you could take me off my mother's service, I don't want to work on any general cases anymore' Meredith told him

'Oh, only if you're sure, because I have a whipple in half an hour and I need someone to scrub in with me'

'If I do this then will you take me off general?'

'Anything for you Meredith' Richard said and walked off

Half an hour later, Meredith and Richard were in the surgery starting the whipple. Little did they know that Ellis Grey was watching from the gallery, she knew that first year interns weren't supposed to scrub in on this advanced surgery. Her daughter was getting special treatment, and she hated this.

After the surgery, Meredith and Richard were stood looking at the OR board when Ellis walked up

'Richard, I need to speak to you' Ellis said

'What's up?'

'Alone' This was Merediths cue to leave, but she had to fill out the chart of the whipple patient so she went and sat at the station just behind them

'I need you to get rid of Meredith, she is not capable of being a surgeon. She gets too attached to patients and she is getting special treatment'

'Ellis'

'You know she shouldn't have been in that surgery this morning, Richard I don't want her here'

'Ellis, I can't just fire her because you don't want her here. She is going to make a great surgeon in the future and she deserves to be at this hospital' Richard tried to defend Meredith

Meredith sat, trying not to get upset by what her mother was saying. She knew her mother would try something like this, she tried to ignore her mother but every word was hurting her more. Then suddenly the words of Derek Shepherd popped into her head, ' _Don't let her take your surgeries, don't let her run you down and don't let her tell you who you can or can't date'._ She didn't want to let her mother run her life, nobody should live like that. She wanted to do surgeries, she wanted to be happy, she wanted to be with Derek.

She had finally realised what she wanted, she wanted to be with Derek. Derek would make her happy, she wanted to go for a drink with him and see where the date went. Meredith finished the chart she was working on and stood up to go and find Derek.

As she walked around the station, Derek walked through the double doors having just come from a surgery. She met him in front of the OR board, which was also in front of her mother. She started talking to him.

'See, she has to go. She isn't even working' Ellis said to Richard as she looked at her daughter 'She is chatting to Doctor Sheldon'

'Doctor Shepherd' Richard corrected her, Ellis never got the name of surgeon's wrong. She knew the name of every surgeon, Richard knew that Ellis never forgot them.

'Whatever. Richard get rid of her'

'Yes' Meredith said to Derek

'What?'

'Yes, I want to go on a date with you' Meredith said

'Tonight?' Derek asked

'Sure, I'll meet you in the lobby at 8' Meredith said before walking off after being paged

'Ellis, Meredith is going nowhere. She is doing her internship here, the hospital that she was matched to' Richard said before walking off to catch up to Meredith

'Doctor Grey' Webber shouted

'Chief' Meredith said

'Don't listen to your mother, she is just upset that you did the whipple this morning with me. I'm not going to fire you, you should do your internship here. There are many doctors who want you to do your internship here'

'Thank you Chief, but I have a patient to get to'

'One more thing Grey. How long has your mother been forgetting things?'

'What do you mean?'

'I've noticed recently that she has been forgetting things'

'Chief, I have a patient' Meredith said walking to her patient.

Meredith spent the rest of the day avoiding her mother and the chief, she didn't want to talk to either of them. All she wanted was for it to be 8pm then she could get out of this hospital with someone who actually cared about her. Meredith kept looking at her watch, checking the time, counting down the hours. She finished with her last patient and made her way to the locker room to shower and get changed. She was down in the lobby for 8pm to wait for Derek, she sat in the lobby waiting. She saw Derek walk out of the elevator across the room, so she grabbed her back and stood up.

'Meredith, I have a surgery in an hour so I won't be home' Ellis said walking up to her

'I don't care' Meredith said walking passed her mother to join Derek

Derek drove him and Meredith to a local restaurant and sat down at a table.

'How was your day?' Meredith asked Derek

'I had 3 consults and removed a tumour' Derek replied, 'What about yours?'

'I scrubbed in on a whipple with the chief and then listened to my mom tell the chief that I should be fired and that she doesn't want me at the hospital'

'What?'

'She wanted the chief to fire me. Then the chief asked me how long she has been forgetting things'

'oh Meredith, why didn't you say anything?'

'Because I don't care, why should I care she doesn't care about me. She has never cared about me. Even as a child she didn't, we never went out as a family then my father left then she was never the same. She started seeing some man, and I was on a carousel and I got off and she was crying. Then we left for Boston, she was never a proper mother to me. I'm surprised she even knows who I am'

'I am so sorry after everything you have been through, you don't deserve any of that'

'Thanks Derek' She looked down at the table 'I can't do this now' She said and she stood up and left the restaurant

'Meredith!' Derek shouted behind her and caught up to her 'Meredith'

'I'm sorry Derek'

'Meredith, I understand. It's okay that you can't do this right now. Just know that I am here for you, if you need to talk just come and find me'

'Thank you, Derek' Meredith replied and hugged him. She had feelings for him, she knew she did and she knew that he had feelings for her. She pulled away and looked up at Derek in the eye. They stood looking at each other for a few moments and then she felt Derek's lips on hers. They pair shared a kiss for minutes and then they pulled apart.

'I'm sorry' Derek said

'Don't be, it felt right' Meredith replied, 'Can we go home?'

'I'll drive'

They walked to Derek's car hand in hand. Derek drove them to Meredith's house, Meredith invited Derek to spend the night. They talked, they kissed which led to more.


	2. Chapter 2

Meredith's alarm went off at 6am, she rolled over and turned it off. Then rolled back over and opened her eyes to see Derek awake next to her. He lay his arm out and let Meredith snuggle into his chest. She rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart beat, it was the best thing she had heard for a while.

'Morning' Derek said

'Morning' Meredith replied and yawned

'We better get up and get ready for work'

'I don't want to, it's warm in here'

'We can lie like this for a few minutes but then we have to get up or we will be late'

Meredith lay for a few minutes, with her head resting on Derek's chest. She felt his chest rise and fall as he breathed, she knew this is what she wanted. She wanted to lie like this every night with the man that she loved. She loved him. She watched the clock turn to 6:10am, the agreed to get up and get ready for work. Derek drove them both to the hospital as they were going to go out after work since it didn't happen last night.

'Are we telling people?' Meredith asked Derek as they pulled up in the car park

'It's up to you, we can just act normal and let people find out as they do'

'Okay then' Meredith said getting out the car and waited for Derek to walk around the car and took hold of her hand

They walked to the elevator and pushed the up button for the 2nd floor. As the doors opened they stepped in and saw Ellis Grey stood at the back. Meredith let go of Derek's hand and stood beside him

'Ignore her' Derek whispered to her 'Remember what I said'

Meredith nodded and they continued their journey to their floor. When it got to the 2nd floor the doors opened and they stepped out

'See you in the lobby later' Meredith said and kissed Derek goodbye

Meredith entered the locker room, and greeted the other interns. She changed into her scrubs and waited for Doctor Bailey to give them their assignments. Doctor Bailey walked in and interrupted the conversation that they were having. She assigned Meredith to Doctor Shepherd, since she asked to be removed from general, and gave the other interns their orders. The interns left the locker room and went to their allocated places.

Meredith made her way to the coffee machine to get her and Derek a coffee, then she her pager went off. She looked and saw that Derek wanted to meet her in the patients room. She met Doctor Shepherd and they greeted the patient, Derek asked her to take the patient down for a CT scan and bring the scans up to him when they were done.

'Doctor Shepherd' Ellis Grey said

'Yes, Doctor Grey' Derek said turning around to see his girlfriend's mother 'What can I do for you?'

'You have been spending a lot of time with Doctor Grey recently, she is always on your service'

'Well she is interested in Neuro and I don't blame her. She is very talented in that OR'

'That's not why though is it. I want you to stay away from her, she is no longer on your service'

'You can't do that' Derek said as Richard was standing by

'Doctor Webber, what are the rules on dating colleagues?' Derek asked him

'It is allowed as long as the colleagues remain professional within the walls of the hospital'

'Richard I believe that Meredith Grey and Doctor Shepherd are having an inappropriate relationship. I hope that there can be some action that you take to stop this, she spends her whole time working on neuro' Ellis said taking Richard to one side

'Ellis, we have had this conversation. Meredith is not going anywhere'

'Either she goes or I go' Ellis said

'Richard, Ellis. Meredith is a very good surgeon, she is interested in neuro since the head of general won't let her work. She is very talented, and a great person to work with' Derek said about Meredith, not knowing that she was walking up behind them 'Yes, I am in a relationship with Meredith, and it does not affect our work. I know you believe that Meredith is ordinary but believe you me she is extraordinary'

Meredith stood around the corner, listening to the conversation the three people were having about her

'Doctor Shepherd'

'No Doctor Grey, you haven't wanted Meredith here from the day she started. She is your daughter and you don't act like it. You don't acknowledge her at all'

'Doctor Shepherd, within the hospital Doctor Grey is a colleague not my daughter. I…I' Ellis started to say before she collapsed to the floor

'ELLIS!' Doctor Webber shouted

'Someone page Meredith Grey' Derek shouted

'Derek, I'm here' Meredith ran over 'What happened?'

'She just collapsed' Richard said as he helped put her on a gurney

They rushed her to the nearest patient room and ran tests and checked her vitals. Meredith was stood worried in the corner while Derek, Richard and nurses rushed around Ellis. She may have a rubbish relationship with her mother but she still cared about her. She was still her mother.

After a few minutes, the nurses left leaving the three doctors.

'I'm going to go and put a rush on her labs' Richard said leaving Meredith and Derek

'I'm sorry Mer' Derek said sat next to her

'It's not your fault Derek' Meredith said not taking her eyes of her mother who was asleep

'It is, I was shouting at her before she collapsed'

'I know what you said Derek, I was stood around the corner' Mer said looking at him 'Thank you for sticking up for me'

Meredith and Derek sat together on the sofa of the VIP patient room, waiting for Richard to get back with Ellis's results. After about an hour Derek left the room, and Meredith moved over to sit next to her mother. She fell asleep leaning on the bed holding her mother's hand. She didn't want to lose her mother, they may not be close but she still loved her.

Derek walked passed the window and looked in to see his girlfriend still asleep, so he waited outside the room. Then from the other direction Richard was walking towards the room with some papers in his hands which Derek presumed was the results.

'Richard' Derek said standing up 'Are they the results?'

'Yeah' Richard said looking down at them 'It's not good Derek'

'Can we just wait a bit before telling them, look' Derek said as he moved over allowing Richard to see through the window

'I never thought I'd see the day' Richard whispered looking at Meredith asleep leaning next to Ellis. As the pair of them were looking through the window, Meredith slowly woke up and looked around seeing them stood watching.

They walked in and stood by Ellis's bed, while Meredith woke her mother up

'Mom' Meredith said, 'Your results are here'

'What happened?' Ellis asked after waking up

'You collapsed a few hours ago'

'Ellis, we ran a few tests. Your neuro looks good, as well as your blood pressure and heart' Richard began

'So, can I get back to work?' Ellis said sitting up

'Not yet…something came up in your blood'

'What?' Meredith said alert

'You have tested positive for Alzheimer's. I am so sorry Ellis'

'That can't be true. I am perfectly fine, I have no symptoms of Alzheimer's'

'Mom' Meredith said taking hold of her mother's hand

'Ellis, you have shown some symptoms. You have been forgetting things. The other day you misnamed Doctor Shepherd and you forgot a step in a surgical procedure'

'Mom why didn't you say?'

'Because there is nothing wrong' Ellis said removing her hand from Meredith's 'Please leave me alone'

Meredith began to tear up and left the room. She headed towards the doors of the hospital and sat on the bench outside. A few seconds after Derek joined her and pulled her into a hug

'I am so sorry Mer' He said and placed a kiss on her head 'I am so sorry'

'What am I going to do?'

'We will just have to take each day as it comes. It is going to get tough down the road, but we are miles from that. You're just going to have to be there for her, she will need you'

'We?' She said looking up at him

'Yes we. I am going to be here for you. I am not going anywhere'

'Thank you, Derek'

It had been 6 months and Ellis had left the hospital and was unable to work any longer, she would become a danger to patients while in surgery. She hated that she couldn't be at the hospital, that was the place she loved the most. Ellis's condition was deteriorating quickly, so Meredith had checked her into the local extended care home Roseridge. She went to visit her mother twice a week, but it was getting to the point where Ellis couldn't recognise Meredith.

Derek could notice how it was getting to Meredith. Every time she came home from visiting her, she was quiet and didn't want to talk about it. He hated seeing her like this, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He couldn't stop her from going to see her and there was nothing he could do to stop the Alzheimer's from progressing.

It was Wednesday morning and Meredith was due to go and visit her mother. Derek dropped her off at Roseridge and waited outside for her.

'Hello mom' Meredith said walking over to her mother 'The nurses say you haven't been eating'

'No time, I have a surgery in half an hour and I still haven't prepped' Ellis said writing in her book

'Mom, you need to eat'

'Can you tell him that I won't make dinner tonight and that I love him'

'Who? Dad?' Meredith asked confused, her mom and dad hadn't been together since she was 5.

'No Richard' Ellis said

'Richard Webber?'

'Yes, but make sure Adele doesn't hear'

'Mom I've got to go' Meredith said leaving Roseridge and getting back into Derek's car

'How is she?' Derek asked as she got in

'They were having an affair, that's why my father left' Meredith said tearing up

'Who?'

'My mother and Richard'

'Richard Webber?' Derek asked

'Can we just get to the hospital, I don't want to talk about it'

Derek drove them to the hospital, and Meredith immediately got out the car and went looking for Richard. She wanted to find out what her mother meant, was Richard the reason for her father leaving? She changed into her scrubs and went looking for him. She was avoiding everyone; Christina, Bailey, Derek, George…everyone. She eventually found him stood near the OR board, she asked if they could speak in his office.

'What can I do for you Doctor Grey?'

'It's about my mother' She said sitting down opposite the chief

'Is she alright?'

'She's as good as can be. I need to ask you something'

'Go on'

'Did you have an affair with my mother?' She asked hesitant of the answer

'I…'

'She told me to tell you that she wouldn't make it home for dinner and that she loves you. I want to know, please just tell me'

'Meredith, you weren't ever supposed to find out about it'

'Just tell me'

'Fine. When your mother and I were residents we were the outsiders. She was the only woman and I was the only black person. Nobody took us seriously, then one evening we were working on a patient together and it was tough. It just happened. We slept together one night, and I guess it just escalated. We began seeing each other. Then we agreed that I would tell Adele and she would tell Thatcher and we would be together properly' Richard told her

'It was you. You're the reason they broke up' She said, her voice getting louder being heard by Derek and Bailey who were stood on the catwalk outside the office.

'I never meant for it to happen. We were both married, and she had a child. I didn't want to break up your family. We agreed to meet once we had both told them. We met at the park and she told me that she broke it off with Thatcher, but I couldn't'

'You stayed with Adele'

'I stayed with Adele. I couldn't break her heart'

'You just broke my mother's instead'

'I tried to tell her but…'

'You're the reason I have no father. You're the reason he walked out on us'

'Meredith'

'NO!' She shouted standing up 'You broke her!' She shouted crying and stormed out the room

'Meredith!' Richard shouting chasing after her

'Meredith?' Derek said seeing his girlfriend upset and angry

'Chief?' Bailey questioned

'Meredith what's happened?'

'Ask the chief. He will tell you everything, he might as well. There is no one else he can hurt now'

'Not here Meredith'

'Why not? Do you now want everyone to know why I don't have a father? Why I grew up without a father'

'What?' Derek and Miranda said in sync

'It turns out that the Chief and my mother were having an affair, but he couldn't go through with it and break up with Adele but he let my mother break up with Thatcher. That's why my father left, that's why my mother is cold and not loving. I don't even know what my father looks like, I could never recognise him and he wouldn't know what I look like' Meredith cried

'Mer?' Derek said taking hold of her arm

'Doctor Grey, I said not here'

'The truth hurts' Meredith said turning and began to walk off before stopping and looking at them 'I'm guessing I'm suspended, so I'll pack my stuff'

'Chief you can't let her go' Bailey said, 'She will be a big loss to this hospital'

'Just give her some time and space. I'll go and talk to her. She will need time to cool off' Derek said walking off to find Meredith.

She was in the locker room putting all her things into a box when the other interns walked in.

'Mer?' George questioned

'Meredith, what's happening?' Christina asked

'I've been suspended. So I'm packing my stuff and going home' She told them as Derek walked in

'Why what happened?' Izzie asked

'She probably killed a patient' Alex joked

'Guys, just leave her please' Derek said

'Meredith. What has happened?' Christina asked again, she was the closest to Meredith

'Not now Christina' Derek said, 'Can you all just get to work'

'Oh, sorry Doctor Shepherd' Alex said as they all left the room apart from Christina

'Meredith'

'Christina, just go to work' Meredith said, 'I'll call you later'

'Fine' She said leaving the locker room

'Meredith, you don't have to do this'

'I do, I need some space. If I'm here then I will see him all the time and I don't think I will be able to cope with it'

'Doctor Grey' Richard said walking into the locker room 'You are not suspended. You can stay here, I'm going to take time off. I need to spend time with my wife, and you're an intern you need to spend as much time as you can'

'Thanks Chief' Derek said since Meredith was remaining quiet

Richard left them alone and left the hospital to spend time with his wife. Derek got paged to go and see a patient and Meredith was assigned to the ER. She walked into the ER and it was quiet. There were no major traumas, no waiting patients. She sat at the desk and worked through some paperwork. She heard an ambulance pull up outside the ER and watched a group of doctors run outside. She waited inside to see how bad the casualties were.

A man was brought in on the gurney.

'I told you I don't want to be at this hospital' The man shouted

'54-year-old male, large laceration to the forehead and a broken lower limb' The paramedic said

Meredith rushed over began to clean out the laceration. She paged neuro just to make sure everything was okay.

'Doctor Grey' Derek said walking over 'You need a consult'

'Yes please, can you page me when you're done' Meredith said walking to another patient who had just come in

'That's Doctor Grey?' The patient asked

'Yes' Derek replied, 'Can you follow my finger'

'What's the doctors first name?'

'I can't tell you that' Derek said, 'I'm going to ask you some questions just to make sure your memory is intact'

'Do you know that date?' Derek asked

'March 12th'

'Do you know where you are?'

'Seattle Grace Hospital'

'And finally, what's your name?'

'Thatcher' The patient said making Derek look up from his papers

'As in Thatcher Grey?' Derek asked

'Yes' Thatcher replied, 'And I'm guessing that that doctor was Meredith Grey?'

'Does she know who you are?'

'No, she never asked any questions'

'You can't tell her. She has been through way too much to handle this'

'I want to know my daughter'

'Thatch!' A woman shouted as she ran into the ER 'Oh Thatcher. I'm so glad you are okay' She said running over

Meredith looked up from her paperwork, there were not many Thatcher's in Seattle. That could not be her father. Derek looked over at Meredith before turning back to the patient

'Thatcher what happened?' The brunette woman asked

'It's just a little scratch'

'We are nearly done here' Derek said wanting to get them out of the ER as soon as possible 'If I can just get you to sing these discharge forms. Doctor Grey, can you bring me some forms'

'Doctor Grey?' The woman asked

'Yes' Meredith said walking over with the forms

'Thank you, Doctor Grey' Derek said, and Meredith turned and started to walk away

'Meredith?' Thatcher said causing Meredith to turn around 'Meredith'

'Do I know you?' Meredith asked

'She's Meredith Grey?' The woman asked looking at Thatcher who nodded. The woman walked over and hugged Meredith, then pulled away and looked at her in the eye.

'I see it now, you have his eyes'

'Who are you?' Meredith asked

'You are ready to go now' Derek said trying to change the subject

'I'm Thatcher. Thatcher Grey, your father' Thatcher said sitting up on the bed

Meredith froze, she looked at Thatcher then back to the woman. She couldn't move, she didn't know what to do. She didn't recognise him, she didn't know anything about him. She looked over at Derek who was looking at her and then she ran off outside. She couldn't take anymore family drama right now.

'Meredith' Derek said running after her 'Meredith wait'

'I'm sorry, I tried to discharge him before he knew who you were'

'He's my father, I didn't even recognise him'

'You haven't seen him since you were young Meredith, he doesn't blame you'

'What do I do?' Meredith asked looking up at Derek

'You don't have to do anything. Do you want to get to know him?'

'I suppose so'

'Why don't I go back in there and invite them over for dinner tonight? Then at least we are at home and you can get to know each other'

'Yeah, thanks'

Derek placed a quick kiss on Meredith's head and then went inside. He invited the pair to dinner tonight and they accepted. The rest of Meredith's day was calm, she didn't have much to do. She met Derek in the lobby at the end of their shifts and went home. She watched Derek prepare the meal, as she wasn't the best at cooking. Once the meal was in the oven they went upstairs to change out of their work clothes and have a shower.

Meredith didn't know what to put on, she wanted to look nice and make a good impression. She eventually decided on a nice shirt and a pair on black jeans. They were downstairs waiting on their guests, when there was a knock at the door.

'I'll get it' Derek said, after being gone a few minutes they walked in

'Hi' Meredith said standing up

'Hi Meredith' Thatcher said

'Hi, err…This is Derek. My…my boyfriend' Meredith said nervous

'Hello' Derek said holding his hand out

'This is Susan' Thatcher said, 'My wife'


	3. Chapter 3

'Your what?' Meredith asked

'My wife. I'm sorry you had to meet this way'

'Hi' Susan said

The four of them stood there in silence.

'Dinner's ready' Derek said, 'Would you like to come through?'

'Yeah' Thatcher said

They walked into the dining room and sat down. Susan and Thatcher on one side, Meredith and Derek on the other. They dished out the food and began eating.

'How did you two meet?' Thatcher asked

'In the bar opposite the hospital, the…the day before my internship' Meredith told him

'How about you two?' Derek asked

'In the grocery store car park, my bag split and Susan helped pick my things up' Susan said

'So, Meredith. How is your mother?' Thatcher asked, 'Is she still working at the hospital?'

'Err…she…err' Meredith stuttered 'She…she has Alzheimer's' Meredith felt Derek's hand on her knee

'Oh, I am sorry' Thatcher said

'Why didn't you fight for me?' Meredith blurted out

'Meredith' Derek said

'What?' Thatcher asked

'Why didn't you fight for me?'

'I tried Meredith, I did. When your mother left me I was heartbroken, she was the love of my life. We had a little girl together, we had a family. So, when she told me about Richard I fell apart, she destroyed our family. I'll admit it, I did walk out. I did leave you with your mother but I did fight for you after. I wanted to still see my little girl, I wanted to watch you grow up' Thatcher told her

'Why didn't you fight harder?'

'I tried, Ellis took you to Boston. She took you away from me. I didn't know when she was going to bring you back, I couldn't sit there waiting for her. Then four years later I met Susan'

'I can't do this' Meredith said getting up from the table and going upstairs

'I'm sorry' Derek said standing up

'I think we should go' Susan said

'Please' Derek said

Derek went upstairs to find Meredith sat on their bed, her knees up against her chest and her heads resting on her knees. Derek climbed onto the bed, sat next to Meredith and pulled her into him so she was leaning on him. He could tell she was crying, he could feel her body shaking. He didn't know what to say to her, so they just sat there in silence.

'Mer' Derek said after a while

Derek felt Meredith pull away so she could look up at him

'How are you?'

'I don't know. I don't know how I am supposed to feel'

'Me neither'

'What am I going to do next?'

'You don't have to do anything. We can take it one day at a time, we don't have to rush. Not after everything you have already been through. If you decide you want him to be your father and get to know him then I will support you or if you decide you don't then I will also support you'

'I know you will, I don't deserve you Derek'

'Don't say that Meredith, I am the lucky one'

Meredith sat up and kissed Derek. They sat talking for a few hours until Meredith fell asleep leaning against Derek's chest with his arm around her, Derek placed a kiss on her head and tried to fall asleep. He couldn't fall asleep, too many thought running through his head. He was too worried about Meredith, her mother had Alzheimer's and her father had just turned up married to another woman.

He wanted to do something to make her feel better, but he didn't know what. They had been going out for about half a year now, and they hadn't done anything big. It was way too early for him to propose and they already lived together. But they lived together with Izzie and George. They needed somewhere for themselves. Somewhere just them two could live. Meredith loved this house, it was the house where she grew up, it's the only house she has ever known.

He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He sent a text to Izzie and George asking them to meet him at Joe's bar tomorrow. He knew what he could do so he could eventually fall asleep.

At the hospital he next day, Meredith had just discharged a patient when Miranda Bailey walked over to her.

'Grey' Bailey said

'Doctor Bailey, I have just discharged my patient. I was about to head down to the ER'

'Don't bother. I am doing an appendectomy and you're scrubbing in'

'Thank you, Doctor Bailey'

'I'll see you in the OR in 20minutes'

Meanwhile Derek was waiting for Izzie and George at Joe's bar. He ordered himself a soda, when they walked over to him

'Doctor Shepherd' Izzie said

'I need to talk to you about Meredith' Derek said

'Is she alright?' George asked

'She has been through a lot recently, I don't know if you have heard. And we have been together for a while now. She needs some space, and she has nowhere to go at home. I was wondering if you two could find a place somewhere else' Derek asked

'Oh, err' Izzie said

'I will help you with the deposit for a new place, I don't want to kick you out and you have no money to get somewhere. But this would help Meredith so much'

'That's fine Doctor Shepherd' George said

'As long as you help' Izzie said

'Izzie' George nudged her

'No George, its fine. I will keep to my word and help pay the deposit'

Meredith and Miranda were stood in the scrub room, scrubbing their arms. Once they were done they walked into the OR and started the surgery

'Doctor Grey, would you like to make the first cut?'

'Is this because of everything that's been going on?'

'No, this is a teaching hospital and I was told I have to teach'

'Fine then' Meredith said 'Scalpel'

Meredith made the first cut over McBurney's point revealing the appendix.

'Nicely done Grey, now tell me everything that is going on while I remove this appendix'

'Fine. Well my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and then that's when I found out that the Chief is to blame for my mother and father splitting up. And then the other day, my father ended up in the ER' Meredith told Bailey

'How is your father?'

'He's fine, he had a laceration on his forehead'

'So why was it so bad then?' Bailey asked

'Because I haven't seen him since I was 5, and I didn't recognise him. Then Derek thought it was a good idea to bring them over for dinner, and then I found out that he got remarried to some woman called Susan'

'Time to close' Bailey said

'Already?' Meredith asked

'We passed the time by talking'

'Thank Doctor Bailey'

'What for?'

'I feel better, now what I have it all off my chest. Derek keeps asking how I am and I don't know what to tell him. I know he wants the best for me but the answer isn't going to change'

'You know having a family is the best feeling. Having people around you, knowing that they love you is good. I know it won't be the same with your mother but you still have a healthy father who you still have time to get to know. He might have got remarried but that doesn't mean he doesn't love you. He hasn't seen you since your mother took you away, try getting to know him' Bailey said before leaving Meredith alone in the scrub room.

Maybe family is what Meredith needed right now, she needed someone to go through everything with her. But Thatcher wouldn't come and visit her mother with her, not after everything she did to him. Meredith left the scrub room and went to find Christina.

'Hey' She said walking up behind Christina who was stood reading the OR board

'Do you want to come and watch?'

'Watch what?'

'Doctor Shepherd's craniotomy? He's about to start in OR2'

'Okay' The pair of them walked up to the empty gallery and sat down

'You never rang me the other night, after you were packing your stuff up' Christina said

'Oh yeah, sorry'

'What happened that day? You were packing your stuff and then you ended up staying and the Chief hasn't been seen here since'

'It's a long story' Meredith said not wanting to explain it all again

'Okay then whatever'

'Bailey let me do the first cut on a surgery today' Meredith gloated, since interns weren't supposed to

'What?' Christina said, with her voice filled with jealousy

'Yep. Straight over McBurney's point'

Christina and Meredith finished watching the surgery. Christina decided to stay and watch the next surgery, while Meredith went to meet Derek

'Derek' Meredith said as he walked out the scrub room

'You okay?' Derek asked for the hundredth time that day

'Derek, I'm fine. You don't have to keep asking me'

'I care, that's all' Derek said

'I know you do and I love that you do' Meredith said, 'I got talking to Bailey before'

'Oh yeah? What did she have to say?'

'She said that family is the best thing. She got me thinking, I don't know if I want to get to know my dad. It would change my life if we didn't, and I don't really have the time to get to know him with the amount of time I have to spend at this hospital'

'It's up to you Mer'

'Doctor Shepherd, can we have a word please?' George said walking over with Izzie

'Sure' The three of them walked over to one side

'We found a place' Izzie said

'Just thought we should tell you'

'You didn't have to straight away' Derek said

'Well we have'

'How much is the deposit?' Derek asked, once they told him he wrote them a cheque and handed it over. Meredith stood and watched Derek give them the cheque

'What was that about?' Meredith asked as he walked back over

'Doesn't matter' Derek said 'Want to go and eat?'

Derek and Meredith went down the cafeteria and Derek bought them both some dinner. They were having a nice time until Derek was paged for an emergency consult in the pit. Today must have been Meredith's lucky day, because she scrubbed in on two more surgeries before her shift finished. Once they had both finished and changed, they made their way home. Meredith walked into her house and expected Izzie to cooking in the kitchen.

'Izzie!' She shouted

'She isn't here Meredith'

'She might be upstairs' Meredith went upstairs and opened Izzie's bedroom door to find her room empty. She then went to George's room and that was also empty

'They've gone' Meredith said comin back down

'I know'

'What do you mean you know?'

'They have got a place for themselves, and left us with your house to just us two'

'Why?'

'We needed a place for just us, and I knew how much you love this house and that you wouldn't want to move out. So I spoke to them the other day and asked them if they would move out, I helped pay for the deposit. That's what you saw earlier' Derek said 'This is our home now. Me and you'

'Derek, you didn't have to'

'Meredith after everything you have been through, you need some time for yourself. And with them two here you never got that. Now you can, if you need a night to yourself, then there are two beds I can sleep in'

'This can be our house forever, we can be married here, have kids here. Me and you' Meredith said

'Thank you, Derek' She stood on her tip toes and kissed him 'I love you'

'I love you too'


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a year since Meredith and Derek had been dating. It had been the best year of her life, for that reason. They had done up the house and decorated so it had their own touch on it. They were both so happy with each other, everyone at the hospital now knew about them so they didn't have to sneak around. They still had sex in on-call rooms and exam rooms and wherever they could, they were the dream couple of the hospital.

Meredith was now seeing her mother four times a week as she was deteriorating quickly. She didn't remember Meredith at all, she didn't remember much. They had to wait until she was lucid so she could sign everything over to Meredith; her inheritance, her money, her health care. It didn't hurt Meredith as much anymore when her mother wouldn't remember her, but it did when she mentioned that she shouldn't have had a daughter or Richard would have stayed with her.

She had seen her father a few times since they had dinner, but she was busy. Susan was consistent on wanting them to get along, she turned up at the hospital a few times wanting to speak to Meredith. Meredith had told her to leave it but she would come back.

Meredith had made up with the chief, they could talk to each other now without yelling. Richard would also go and visit Ellis sometimes to keep her happy, they both knew that she didn't have long left so they wanted her to be happy.

'Hey' Meredith said walking up to Christina, who was leaning on the station staring at some woman talking to Richard

'Who is that?' She asked

'I don't know' Meredith replied

'All I know is that she is starting here today. She's a neonatal surgeon, so we will be working with her at some point'

'How long have you been stood here?'

'Too long'

'Doctor Yang, you're on my service today' Derek said walking over

'Yep'

'What the hell?' Derek said when we looked over at the chief and the woman 'What is she doing here?'

'Derek?' Meredith said, 'Who is it?'

Derek stormed over to the chief and the woman and spoke to them. After 10 minutes the woman walked over

'Doctor Grey?'

'Yes' Meredith answered

'You're with me today'

'Okay' Meredith walked off with the woman, 'Did you request to work with me today?'

'Yes, I did actually'

'Why?'

'You haven't spent much time in neonatal surgery, and I thought we could get to know each other'

'Okay, may I ask you who you are?' Meredith asked, since she didn't know the Doctors name

'I'm Doctor Addison Montgomery'

'Do you know Doctor Shepherd? He didn't look very happy to see you?'

'I do indeed. I know him very well, haven't seen him a while actually'

'Best friend? Childhood girlfriend? Former colleague?' Meredith asked wanting to know why her boyfriend wasn't happy

'Try ex-wife'

'What?' Meredith asked stunned

'I'm Derek's ex-wife, and you're his new girlfriend, right? I thought we could get to know each other since I'm staying in Seattle'

'Great' Meredith said, she was not looking forward to the day ahead. She was working with her boyfriends, ex-wife. She wanted to talk to Derek about it but Addison wouldn't let her get away at all. She would have to wait until the end of the day.

'Our patient is a new born Jacob born with Omphalocele. Which is?' Addison asked

'Means, he was born with his abdominal organs in a sack outside of his body'

'What can we do to prevent closure?' Addison quizzed Meredith

'Apply silver sulfadiazine'

'Well done Doctor Grey' Addison said walking into the NICU followed by Meredith

'How could you bring her here?' Derek asked the chief

'She is the best neonatal surgeon and we needed a chief on neonatal surgery' Richard replied

'You could have told me so I could tell Meredith'

'You two have been divorced for a year, what does it matter'

'She is my ex-wife and she is currently working on a baby with my girlfriend. How do you think Meredith is coping?'

Meredith and Addison stood around the baby, reading his chart. He was stable at the minute but needed surgery soon to put his organs inside of his body.

'Doctor Grey, can you please apply the silver sulfadiazine?'

As Meredith was applying it, Jacob's omphalocele burst

'Doctor Montgomery!' Meredith shouted, 'The sack has burst'

'I need some vicryl mesh now!' Addison shouted as she had to protect the organs quickly

'I'm sorry' Meredith apologised

'You don't need to apologise Meredith, just know what you need to do in the future if it ever happens again'

Derek spent the whole day trying to find some time to talk to his girlfriend but he was too busy with consults and surgeries. Meredith spent the day with Addison on other neonatal cases. Derek was at home waiting for Meredith to come home, he was sat in the living room reading the latest edition of 'Seattle' when the door opened

'Derek' Meredith said walking in

'In here' Derek replied

'There's someone here to see you'

'If it's Addison tell her to leave'

'It's not' Meredith said appearing around the corner followed by a man

'Mark?'

'Hey Derek' Mark replied

'What the hell are you doing here?' Derek said walking over to him

'I'm moving to Seattle' Mark replied then he felt himself fly to the floor as Derek's fist hit his face

'Derek!' Meredith shouted, 'What are you doing?'

'That's Mark, the man who slept with Addison while we were married'

'I guess I deserve that' Mark said standing up

'Sit down both of you' Meredith ordered, so the two men sat at either ends of the sofa

'You two are going to make up. I'm not having you two punch each other in my house, if you're going to do that then you can leave'

'Mere…'Derek went to say

'Shut up. Derek, Mark is your best friend, what he did happened over a year ago. Unless you still love your ex-wife then you should be able to get over it, and if you do please tell me now and then I can pack your stuff. If not, please just make up'

'I'm sorry for sleeping with Addison' Mark said holding his hand out

'Sorry for punching you again' Derek said, as he punched him the day he found out what he did

'Good, now Mark. I'm Meredith, Derek's girlfriend' Meredith said introducing herself

'Hi' Mark said, 'Derek there is something I have to tell you'

'What?'

'I'm moving to Seattle with Addison. After you got a divorce we go together. We have been together for a while'

'That's fine Mark, I have moved on. I have a new love of my life' Derek said

The three of them sat talking, so Derek and Mark could get to catch up. Over the following year Mark and Addison had moved to Seattle and found a place, and Meredith and Derek were just as happy as they were when they first got together.

They had been together for 2 years now, and Derek had never been happier. He wanted to propose, he wanted her to be his wife. He wanted more than what they have now. His mom had visited recently and she loved Meredith so she gave him his grandmothers engagement ring so he could give it to Meredith.

'Doctor Yang, can I speak to you a minute?' Derek asked

'What have you done now?'

'Nothing, I need your advice'

'I'm going to propose to Meredith'

'Okay, what do you need help with?'

'How do you think I should do it? I mean should I make it big?'

'Just make it special' Christina said, 'I've got to go'

'Great thanks' Derek said as she walked off

Derek spoke to Richard and Mark through the day on how they thought he should propose to Meredith. Mark tried to convince him not to and Richard told him it had to be big and romantic. Derek decided he would make it special to them, a place that meant a lot to them.

The elevator.

The place where he first said he loved her, the place where he took her to talk to her privately, the place they managed to kiss before a surgery.

Meredith walked towards the elevator after a long day and pressed the down button. She waited a few seconds then the doors opened

'You can't take that one' Richard said running over and standing in front of her

'Why not?'

'I said don't take it'

'I will take the elevator I want to take' Meredith said trying to get around the chief, then the doors closed.

She pressed the button again and waited for the other elevator.

'Well go on' Richard said urging Meredith into the elevator

'Hey' Derek said stood in the elevator 'Come on in'

The walls of the elevator were covered in cases, CT scans and other documents.

'This is a CT for Paul Daniels, subarachnoid aneurysm' Derek said pointing to the CT scan on the left wall

'From a fall in basketball, I remember'

'It was the first surgery we ever scrubbed in together on, our first save' Derek walked to the right-hand wall, 'Right here is a cerebral cyst. Tough save but we did it, I kissed you in the stairwell after this surgery'

He turned to the back wall. 'Right here, this was a seven-hour craniotomy. You held the clamp the entire time and never flinched. That's when I knew you were going to be an incredible surgeon'

Meredith looked up at Derek and smiled

'And this today, post-op head CT of Georgia Hartley. See that right there? Tumour-free, because you' Derek said pointing at the scan. He then turned and placed his hands on either side of Meredith's body

'You got me into the OR, if there is a crisis you don't freeze. You move forward. You get the rest of us to move forward because you've seen worse, you've survived worse and you know we'll survive too. You say you're all dark and twisty, that's not a flaw it's a strength. It makes you who you are' Derek said as he looked at Meredith in the eye 'I am not going to get down on one knee, I am not going to ask a question. I love you Meredith Grey and I want to spend the rest of my life with you'

'And I want to spend the rest of my life with you' Derek wrapped his arms around Meredith and they shared a very passionate kiss

'I love you Derek'

Derek placed the engagement ring on Meredith's finger and kissed her again

'Can we go and tell my mother, while she is still here?' Meredith asked

'Sounds great'

Meredith and Derek got into their car and started to drive to Roseridge. Meredith was excited to tell her mother, even though she probably didn't know who she was. They were half way there when Meredith got a call

'Hello…What?...My what…I'll be right there' She put the phone down

'Meredith?'

'It's my mom, she's at the hospital. She had a heart attack, I need to see her'

Derek turned the car around and drove back to the hospital. He pulled up in the car park and Meredith ran into the hospital and found her mother's room. She walked into the room to find her mom attached to tubes and asleep.

'How is she?' Meredith asked as she walked in

'It's not looking good Meredith' Richard said

'Her heart is damaged after the heart attack' Preston Burke said, he was the head of cardiothoracic surgery

'How long?' Meredith asked 'How…err…how long does she have?'

'Not long, I am so sorry Doctor Grey' Preston said

Meredith walked over to her bed and sat next to her, she saw Derek walk in and stand behind her

'How is she Mer?' Derek asked

'Not good. She doesn't have long' Meredith said, with tears in the corner of her eyes

'I'll go and wait outside and give you some time'

'Thank you' She watched Derek walk back outside and close the door behind him

'Hi Mom, it's me. I was just on the way to see you when they told me you were here. I was coming to tell you that I got engaged' Meredith said holding her mom's hand and feeling tears fall down her face, 'I'm engaged to Derek. I really wanted to tell you. I don't even know if you can hear me mom…'

Derek stood outside the room, like he did when Ellis was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, watching his now fiancé talking to her mom.

'I love you mom, I know we didn't have the best relationship but I always loved you. Mom if you can hear me please, just squeeze my finger' Meredith cried 'Please mom'

Meredith stroked the hair from her mother's face and placed a kiss on her head. She sat down in the chair and rested her head on the side of her mom bed. She fell asleep. Derek walked in quietly and sat down on the chair next to Meredith and read the paper. He just wanted to be there for his fiancé if she woke up.

Meredith must have been asleep for about half an hour when she woke up to the sounds of beeping. The machines were going off. Her mother was coding.

'Mom!' Meredith shouted

'Richard!' Derek shouted as Richard walked passed.

'Get a crash cart!' Richard shouted

'Mom!'

'Derek get her out of here' Richard ordered, so Derek dragged Meredith out the room and held her tightly

'Charge to 300' Richard shouted 'Clear'

Meredith stood and watched her mother being shocked, but it wasn't helping. She wasn't coming back. She couldn't lose her mother. Meredith cried into Derek's body who stood holding her.

'Charge again!' Richard yelled 'Clear'

He looked up at the machine, there was no change. She was gone

'Time of death; 11:42' Richard said before slowly walking out the room with tears in his eyes

'I'm so sorry Meredith'

'No' Meredith cried

'It's okay Mer' Derek said as he held Meredith and kissed her head

'I want to see her' Meredith said, and then walked into the room

Meredith walked in and stood beside her mother. She tucked the stray hairs behind her mom's ears and placed a kiss on her forehead

'I love you mom, goodbye' Meredith said before walking out the room

'Let's go home' Derek said, causing Meredith to nod

When they got home, Meredith dumped here bag and coat on the floor and went straight upstairs. Derek locked the door after them and went upstairs after her.

'Mer?' Derek said as he walked into their bedroom 'Mer'

Meredith ignored Derek and started to fold up clothes that were piled on her bed

'Meredith, you don't have to do that' Derek said

'Meredith' Derek said grabbing her arm and turning her to face him. She looked up at him in the eyes and tears fell down her face

'She's gone' Meredith cried 'She's gone. She was young, she's gone'

'It's okay Meredith, I'm here'

'Derek, I don't want you to be alone if anything should happen to me'

'Meredith nothing is going to happen to you'

Meredith changed into her pyjamas and climbed onto her bed, and watched Derek change and joined her.

'Derek, can I ask you something?'

'Sure' Derek said turning to face her

'How would you feel about having a baby?' Meredith asked, she never thought she would want kids but now that she had the man of her dreams and she had just lost her mother she wanted someone else in her life.

'I would love to have a baby with you Mer' Derek replied, 'But are you sure it's the right time?'

'I have never been surer about anything'

'Okay then, we can book an appointment to check everything is okay and then we can have a baby'


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a week since Ellis had died, and Meredith had her ashes in a ern, which was put in the bottom on her wardrobe so it didn't freak people out.

Meredith and Derek sat in the OB room, waiting on their results. They wanted to make sure that everything was okay for them to have a baby.

'Everything is going to be fine' Derek said

'I drank a lot of tequila in college, after college'

'It's been a while since I did my OB rotation' Derek said, 'It will be fine'

The doctor walked back into the room and sat opposite the couple

'We have a few things to discuss' She said, 'We have your results, Derek everything is fine'

'That's good then'

'It's me right, I'm the problem' Meredith said

'Meredith, you have what we call a hostile cervical mucus. This means you have…'

'I know what it means, I'm a doctor' Meredith said

'Can we have a baby?' Derek asked

'Meredith, you could get pregnant. But there is a high chance that you could miscarry'

'Okay' Derek said, 'Thank you'

'Is there anything else I can help you with?' The doctor asked them

'No that's everything thanks' Meredith said standing up and leaving the room. She walked out the building and got into her car. Shortly after Derek joined her

'She didn't say we couldn't get pregnant Meredith' Derek said, he could tell she was upset about what the doctor told them

'I can't do it Derek, not if the baby could die inside me'

'Meredith, we have other options. We could adopt or use a surrogate'

'It's not the same though Derek, I want to be able to carry our baby. Have our baby grow inside of me'

'Meredith, the child would still be ours no matter what we do'

'I know' She said starting to cry

'I will make sure we are parents Meredith, I will do whatever it takes to make sure you and I have a baby' Derek said kissing the side of her head then driving them both to work.

'So, what do you have today?' Meredith asked

'A child from Malawi that came over as part of Karev's African programme'

'Can I scrub in?' Meredith asked

'Sure, I'll meet you in the patient's room once we've changed'

'Okay then'

Once they got to the hospital, they went to their locker rooms and changed. Meredith walked into the patient's room to find Derek and another woman and a little baby

'Doctor Grey, right let's get started'

'This is Zola Limbani, she has a possible fluid build-up in the brain' Meredith said reading her chart

Derek picks up Zola and she eventually stops crying

'That's the first time she has stopped crying since we left the orphanage' The social worker said

'Let's do an MRI, to determine whether she needs a shunt' Derek ordered

'Okay' Meredith said leaving the room

'She's an orphan?' Derek asked

'Yep, has been since she was born'

'Oh okay' Derek placed Zola back in the cot 'I'll be back soon to take her for the MRI'

As Derek walked out the room, he thought _That could be his and Meredith's baby_

Meredith and Derek took Zola down her MRI, and waited for the results. Derek was paged for a quick consult in the pit

'Page me when you have the scans'

'Will do' Meredith waited for the scans, and paged Doctor Shepherd. She waited for him in Zola's room, she stood playing with Zola while they waited

'Meredith' Derek said walking in

'She doesn't have a Chiari malformation but she does have hydrocephalus'

'Okay, book an OR. We need to put in a shunt' Derek said, 'See you in there'

Meredith and Derek were in the OR working on Zola, Derek really wanted to ask Meredith if she wanted to adopt Zola but he needed to wait until they had some privacy. The surgery went well and not long after they were stood in Zola's room while she recovered.

'Mer' Derek said picking up Zola 'I want to ask you something'

'Okay'

'Why don't we adopt Zola?' Derek asked

'What?'

'Zola, she could be our little girl'

'She could be our little girl' Meredith echoed Derek and taking Zola off Derek

'Shall we?'

'I think we should'

'I'll speak to the social worker when she gets back and see what we have to do'

'Okay then' Meredith said handing Zola back to Derek and leaving them to go and help in the pit.

'Doctor Shepherd how did the surgery go?' Janet asked

'Really well, she is going to be fine'

'That's good then'

'Janet, me and Meredith are considering adoption. Actually, we are considering adopting Zola' Derek said

'That's great news' Janet said

'What do we have to do to be considered?'

'You need to fill out one of these forms each, and make sure everything is checked off on the list at the back of the form. Once you have done all that you will be considered to be Zola's parents' Janet told him 'I actually happen to have a set of the forms with me right now' She handed Derek the forms

'Thank you, Janet. We will fill these out and make sure everything is fine and get them back to you as soon as possible'

Derek left the room and went to find Meredith, if they wanted Zola then they would need to sort everything out as soon as possible or she would be on her way back to Malawi and they would lose her forever.

'Look at this list' Meredith said looking down the list 'Blood work, financial statements, a home study. And this is just to see if the USCIC thinks we are suitable to adopt'

'Meredith don't worry about it, we can get all this done and Zola will be our little girl' Derek said and looked over at Meredith who was looking down at the list 'Look don't get overwhelmed, we can take this one step at a time'

'I know, I know'

'Look, I see something we can cross off right there' Derek said pointing at the section that stated _Marital Status_

'Are we really going to do this?' Meredith questioned

'We can go to City Hall, if that's what you want'

'I don't care about the wedding Derek, I'm excited about the marriage'

'We will need to find some witnesses and then we can go'

'I'll go and find Christina and ask her to come, who are you going to ask?' Meredith asked

'Mark, he has always been my best friend'

'Okay then, meet in the lobby in half an hour'

'Sure' Meredith went to find Christina and Derek went to find Mark

'Christina!' Meredith shouted from behind Christina

'Mark!' Derek said walking up to Mark

'Meredith' Christina said back

'Shepherd' Mark greeted Derek

'What are you doing in half an hour?' Meredith questioned

'Do you have a surgery in half an hour?' Derek asked

'Nothing, why?'

'Nope, nothing booked for the rest of the day'

'Will you come to City Hall with me and Derek, and be a witness to our marriage?'

'Will you come to City Hall with me and Meredith and be a witness to our marriage?'

'Of course, but how come so soon?' Christina asked

'My best mate, getting married again. I will be there' Mark told him 'I thought you would want another big wedding'

'We have this little girl we want to adopt and you are more likely to get through if you are married' Meredith told Christina

'We are getting married quickly because we want to adopt a little girl that's an orphan from Malawi'

'I never thought I'd see the day when Meredith Grey has a child' Christina joked

'Derek Shepherd, becoming a daddy' Mark joked

'Thanks, just meet us in the lobby in half an hour' Meredith said walking off

'Yep. Lobby, half an hour. Don't be late' Derek said walking off

Meredith and Derek were waiting for Christina and Mark in the lobby. Once they met them, they made their way over to City Hall and waited in the waiting room to be asked to come in

'Applicants Grey and Shepherd' A man called

'That's us' Derek said standing up

'Yep' Meredith said walking in followed by Mark and Christina

'Do you have your witnesses?' The mayor asked them

'Yes, Christina Yang and Mark Sloan' Derek told him

'Would you two like to stand to one side' The mayor asked

'Have you got some ID?' He asked them

'Here you go' Meredith and Derek handed him their licenses

'Okay, this seems to be in order. Ill jump right in'

'This is romantic' Mark joked to Christina

'We are here today to participate in a marital union, to celebrate love and happiness and loyalty. Acting in conformity to the laws and regulations of the state of Washington. To bring together two human beings. Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, joins hands and repeat after me' The mayor said, Meredith and Derek turned to face each other and took hold of each other's hands

'I, Meredith Grey. Take you Derek Shepherd to be my husband. For better or worse, in good times and bad. I choose you to be the one with whom I spend my life' Meredith repeated after the mayor

'I, Derek Shepherd. Take you Meredith Grey to be my wife. For better or worse, in good time and bad. I choose you to be the one with whom I spend my life' Derek said after Meredith

'Do you have some token you wish to exchange?' The mayor asked them

'No, we didn't have time to get rings' Meredith said

'Okay, we will skip that part' He said

'Romantic' Christina joked to Mark quietly

'Okay, you sign there and you sign there' The mayor said as he gave them a form and a pen each

They both signed the forms.

'By these acts and according to the laws of the State of Washington OK, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations'

Derek and Meredith shared and kiss, then they left the room. They needed to finish the forms to get Zola

'Next applicants please' The mayor shouted as they left

The newly-wed couple went back to the hospital and stayed the night with Zola. They wanted to properly get to know here and so that she knew them before it was official. They both had to do an interview with Janet, so she could get to know them as people. After they had both done their interviews, Zola had a scare and had to go back into surgery. Derek wanted to do the surgery but because it was now personal for him he was not able to, so he asked Arizona Robbins from peds to do it.

Once Zola was out the woods, Janet had to do a home inspection to make sure that Meredith and Derek's home was suitable for a baby. Especially a baby that had just had surgery. Janet thought everything was fine, but they still weren't allowed to take her home. While Zola was with the social worker, she had a seizure. Janet brought her in, but she wasn't obliged to tell Meredith or Derek. Arizona Robbins was put on the case.

'Doctor Karev' Doctor Robbins said, 'You are on my service, right?'

'Yes' He said walking into the room 'Wait, isn't this the baby that Meredith and Derek are trying to adopt?'

'Yes, it is. You cannot tell them' Arizona said

'Why? She is there child'

'Not yet she isn't' Janet said

'Anyway, what happened?' Alex asked

'Her shunt has malfunctioned resulting in her having a seizure. She also has a bowel obstruction. We need to take her to the OR, book the OR Karev and don't tell Shepherd or Grey' Robbins ordered him

'Fine' Alex went to the OR board and book OR2 for Doctor Robbins. As he was writing Zola's name on the board Derek walked passed

'Karev, what surgery do you have?' Derek wondered

'Oh, a bowel obstruction and fixing a malfunctioned shunt with Doctor Robbins' He replied

Derek rubbed off his surgery from the board, as he had finished when he saw the patients name

'It's Zola?' Derek questioned

'I…err…'

'Karev, where is she?'

'You can't, I was told not to tell you'

'She is my little girl! Now Karev, where is she?'

'Pre-op room 1608' Alex told him

Derek made is way quickly to the room, while phoning Meredith to meet him there. When he got there Meredith was coming towards the room from the other direction

'Mer' Derek said, 'It's Zola'

As they walked into the room, they saw Zola lay on the bed with Janet stood beside and Doctor Robbins reading her chart

'Doctor Shepherd, Doctor Grey. What are you doing here? Arizona asked

'She is our little girl' Derek said

'You two can't be here, you could jeopardise the case' Janet said

'We are not going anywhere until you tell us what has happened' Derek said worried about Zola

'Her shunt malfunctioned, she had a seizure. I am going to take her into the OR' Robbins said

'What are you doing to do?' Meredith asked

'I will remove the adhesions, and fix the obstruction then the shunt with be fine'

'What if it is not okay? What is it's disconnected or broken?' Derek questioned, since he had placed the shunt originally

'Then I will convert to a VA shunt' Robbins said starting to push the bed with Zola lay on it 'Derek I can do this, let me do this'

Meredith and Derek let Arizona take her to the OR and perform the surgery. They stood outside the OR the whole time, and they kept looking in through the window of the door. Janet made sure that they couldn't get into the gallery. The surgery took around 2 hours, but it felt more like 10 for the couple. By the time it had finished they had gone and sat in the resident's locker room. They were sat waiting when Alex and Arizona walked in.

'How is she?' Meredith asked jumping up

'She is fine' Alex said

'What about the shunt?' Derek asked

'Once I had cleared the obstruction, there was nothing wrong with the shunt. I checked it myself' Arizona filled them in

'Thank you, Doctor Robbins' Derek said

'Can we see her?' Meredith asked

'You can see her for about half an hour, Janet has to make some phone calls to the agency. So, you have some time'

They went to Zola's room, Meredith stood beside the cot and Derek stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

'She's going to be fine Mer' Derek said

'I know, I just wish we could have caught it. If she was with us then we could have caught this'

'She will be with us soon, she will be our little girl'

'We will be a little family'

'Excuse me' Janet said walking in

'Oh, we're sorry Janet. We will leave you alone' Meredith said

'No, you don't have to' Janet said, 'I've seen everything I had to'

'What do you mean?' Derek asked

'You never left Zola's side even when you were told you weren't allowed. You were stood outside the OR, during her surgery. You knew exactly where she was all the time, that's the kind of thing we look for in parents. I was on the phone to the agency before I came in here and we are granting you full custody of Zola'

'What?' Meredith said

'She's yours'

'Oh my god' Meredith said starting to cry

'She's ours' Derek said

'Congratulations' Janet said, before leaving the family

'Hey baby girl' Derek said picking up Zola from the bed.

'Hey Zola' Meredith said

Zola squirmed in Derek's arms before calming down and looking up at her new parents. They were a family. Since they were both doctors, the hospital let them take Zola home the next day.

'I can't believe it Derek' Meredith said lying in her bed looking over at her daughter who was asleep in her cot

'Me neither Mer, me neither' Derek placed a kiss on the side of Meredith's head

They were letting Zola sleep in their room until they were sure nothing else could go wrong with her shunt, plus they had just got her and couldn't see enough of her. They were now the parents of the most beautiful 9-month-old baby girl.

'Are we picking her up together?' Derek asked, they both still had to work so they were going to put Zola in day care at the hospital

'Yes, we're both finishing at 7'

'We need to start getting ready' Derek said looking over at the alarm clock 'I'll get ready and go and get her bottle ready'

'Okay then' Meredith said, getting off the bed and getting dressed. Derek quickly got dressed and made his way downstairs to make Zola's bottle.

'Zozo' Meredith said quietly, trying to wake her daughter up 'Come on baby' She said picking her up

Zola squirmed as she woke up, and slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Meredith. She cried a little bit but eventually calmed down. Meredith took her to her newly formed bedroom and lay her down on the changing table. She got out her clothes, she got out a pink t-shirt and a pair of dungarees. Once Zola was dressed she took her downstairs so they could have breakfast.

'Morning baby' Derek said taking Zola from Meredith so she could have her morning coffee. Derek started feeding Zola her breakfast

'Have you got any surgeries booked today?' Meredith asked

'I've got a craniotomy, but other than that nothing else. What about you?'

'Bailey's got us studying for the intern exam, she's told us we're not scrubbing in or being the lead on any cases until the exam is done'

'When is your exam?' Derek asked, while still feeding Zola

'It's on the 12th'

'You do know that's tomorrow Mer'

'No, it's not, it's a week away' Meredith said

'Meredith, it's tomorrow'

'No…' Meredith said looking at the calendar 'Oh crap. I thought I had a week, it's this little one's fault' She said joining her husband and daughter at the table 'She's had all my attention'

'Why don't I take her to day care then you can get more studying done' Derek suggested

'Doesn't that sound a bit Ellis Grey to you? Leaving my child to work'

'Meredith, it's only one day'

'And?'

'Meredith, you are nothing like your mother and you know that. Anyway, she will still be with me'

'Thank you, Derek, I'll meet you at the hospital later then' Meredith said putting her coat on and grabbing her coat before making her way to the hospital.

She met Christina and they were going to study together. They were on their way to a conference room when the bumped into Bailey

'Need any help on any patients?' Christina asked

'Nope, you need to study' Bailey said

'But, if you need any help' Meredith said

'Yang, Grey. You two have intern exams tomorrow. You need to study for them. I am not having you two as my interns for another 2 years'

'Fine' They replied in sync

The interns had spent the day studying in the conference room, whilst they watched doctors rush around helping patients. They wanted so badly to be out there but they weren't allowed. Bailey was on their case, she knew when they were prying.

'I'm done for the day' Alex said

'Do you think we will all pass?' Izzie said

'Of, course' Meredith told them

'One in five fail their intern exam' Christina said not looking up from a book

'That means one of us will fail' Izzie said

'Not necessarily, we know what we are doing and we will all be fine' George said

'We can hold another study session before the exam tomorrow' Izzie said

'Sure, but right now. I am going home' Meredith said

Meredith got up and left the conference room and bumped into Bailey

'Where do you think you're going?' Bailey asked

'To pick up my daughter'

'You need to study'

'I have spent the day studying. I have spent the day studying with Christina Yang, and I will study more tonight' Meredith said

'Fine. Do not fail your exam tomorrow Grey'

'I'll try not to' Bailey glared at her 'I won't'

Meredith reached the day care and found Derek sat on the floor with their daughter. She stood on the other side of the closed door looking at the loves of her lives playing together. Zola was lay between Derek's legs and he was tickling her, making her giggle. Derek looked over towards the door and saw his wife, so he picked up Zola and grabbed her things and left day care

Once they were home, Meredith began to study some more while Derek made Zola dinner. Meredith was reading through a book when she slammed it shut and huffed

'What's wrong?' Derek asked

'I can't do it' Meredith said

'Mer…'

'Derek, I can't do this exam. There is too much to know and I don't know anything'

Derek sat next to her and took the book from her

'Meredith, you know everything you need to know. You are going to pass this exam and then you will finally be a resident. Put the books away and come and play with our daughter. She is so close to walking'

'Okay' The pair of them sat near Zola on the floor and tried to get her to walk. Zola crawled over the Meredith, so Meredith stood her up and kept hold of her

'Come on Zola, walk to daddy' Derek said holding his arms out

Zola went to take a footstep, but fell onto her bottom. So, Meredith stood her up again

'Zozo, look what I've got' Derek said showing her, her teddy giraffe. Zola wanted the giraffe, she held out her arms and took a few steps but then fell again. They tried it one more time and she walked over to Derek and grabbed the giraffe

'Ah, Derek' Meredith said, 'She walked'

'I know, she walked'


	6. Chapter 6

Derek woke up the next morning to find his wife's side of the bed empty apart from a piece of paper. He picked up the paper and read what is said:

 _Derek,_

 _Gone to the hospital early to get some study time in._

 _Zola's breakfast is ready and in the fridge._

 _Love you,_

 _Mer_

He lay back down and closed his eyes, to try and get some more sleep in before he had to go to work. He had closed his eyes for a few minutes until he heard Zola cry.

'Ah, daddy's here' Derek said picking her up 'Mama has left us to study, so it's just you and me'

Derek got his daughter dressed and then got himself dressed, and then went to get breakfast. He made sure they were ready and then drove them to the hospital, and dropped Zola off at day care.

'Meredith' Derek shouted as Meredith walked passed the end of the hall

'Hey' Meredith replied still walking 'I've got 10 minutes then I need to be sat in that room for the exam'

'Okay, well we can walk and talk' Derek said catching up to her 'Thanks for making Zola's breakfast, she's up in day care. I told them that I weren't sure who would be picking her up'

'That's fine, I'm going to go and see her after the exam' Meredith said walking quickly through the halls of the hospital

'Meredith, slow down'

'I can't' She said starting to panic about the exam

'Meredith, look at me' Derek said grabbing her arm and looking at her 'Meredith, just breathe. You are going to be fine and I know it. You will pass this exam, and then you will be a resident'

'What if I don't?'

'I am going to book us a table for all three of us for tomorrow night and I won't be cancelling them' Derek said, he kissed his wife 'Now go and kill this exam'

'Thanks Derek' Meredith said before walking off to the exam. She walked up towards the room to see a group of interns stood outside

'Mer' George said, 'Where have you been?'

'I was on my way and Derek started talking to me'

'Guys, I don't think I'm ready' Izzie said

'I am totally ready' Alex said, 'I'm going to kill this'

'Right interns, you can now enter the room' The examiner said

The interns entered the room and completed the exam. 2 and a half hours later the exam was over, and they would have to wait until 7pm for the results. The five of them agreed to meet in the lobby at 7 and get their results together.

Meredith went up to see Zola after the exam, since she didn't want to wake her up this morning. She spent half an hour playing with her daughter, and then went to work. She did a few sutures in the ER before being paged to assist on a surgery with Bailey.

Christina went to find Burke so she could scrub in on a cardio surgery. She managed to scrub in on 3 cases before having to be in the lobby. Alex was paged to be told to work in the clinic all day since he was the only one not to spend a day there. Izzie, though volunteered to work in the clinic, was told to run the ER and keep everything working smoothly. George was on Callie's service, so he spent the day popping bones back in.

By 7 o'clock the five of them were in the lobby, and waiting for the results to come through. Each of them had their phones out waiting for the results to be emailed through to them. All their phones went off at the same time, so they all opened the email.

'I passed!' Izzie shouted

'I knew I would pass' Christina said

'I did it!' Alex shouted and cheered

'Mer?' Christina asked

'I passed' Meredith said

'George, did you pass?' Izzie asked

'I…'

Meredith made her way home to tell Derek that she had passed her exam, she pulled up in the driveway and went into her house.

'Derek?' Meredith shouted

'Shhh' Derek said coming down the stairs 'I just got her to sleep'

'Oh sorry'

'Well?'

'I passed, I did it' Meredith said

'See, I told you, you would. You should have just believed me, I am always right' Derek said smiling 'How did everyone else do?'

'Everyone passed, apart from George'

Derek and Meredith celebrated that night together, in the bedroom. Now that they could because they let Zola sleep in her own room now, now they were sure that she was healthy and nothing would go wrong with the shunt.

The next day they went to work like normal, and when they got home they showered and got changed so they could go for the meal that Derek had booked. They dressed Zola in a cute dress with little dolly shoes on, Meredith put a short black dress on and Derek wore a suit just without a tie.

They ordered their meals, and not much longer they arrived.

'Before we eat I just want to say how proud I am of you Mer. After everything you have been through, through the past two years and you still had the strength to pass your intern test. I knew you could do it, and you make me so proud to be your husband. Congratulations, you're a resident' Derek said

'Thank you, Derek, I love you'

'Ma-ma' Zola said messing with her food

'Did she just…' Meredith said

'Yes, she did'

'This is turning out to be one good week' Meredith said with a smile on her face. They enjoyed their first proper meal as a family before heading back to their home. By the time they had got home, Zola had fallen asleep in her car seat, so Derek picked her up without waking her up and tucked her up in bed. He stood by her cot and watched her sleep, to him she was the most perfect person in the world.

'You coming to bed?' Meredith whispered from the door

'Yeah, just want to stand here a minute'

Meredith walked in and stood beside him, Derek wrapped his arms around her and she stood in his body.

'She's perfect' Derek said

'I know she is, and she's ours. I just can't help but think we will never have a baby that's actually ours'

'You don't need to think like that Mer, we will have another baby. I promise, we will have a baby that's from our DNA'

'Are you sure?'

'I promise, now let's go to bed'

Derek knew he shouldn't have promised Meredith something like that, he didn't know if they would ever have another baby. He didn't know if Meredith would ever get pregnant, and if she did he didn't know if she would miscarry. He wanted them to have another baby, he wanted Zola to have a little brother or sister. He would do anything for them to have another baby.

They were trying, they were trying to have another. They made sure that they did everything that could to increase the chances of Meredith getting pregnant. It would be a dream come true if they had another baby.

The next morning, Meredith and Derek dropped Zola off at day care. It was an early morning, they always tried to be on the same shift so they could spend as much time as possible as a family at home.

Meredith was in the resident's lounge, when Christina walked in with two coffees.

'Morning' Meredith said

'Here's a coffee' Christina said handing Meredith a coffee

Meredith took one sip of the coffee and immediately felt nauseas. She took another sip, dropped the coffee and ran to the toilet. She locked the door behind her and threw up into the toilet. When she had finished throwing up, she washed her face and went back to Christina

'What was that about?'

'I don't know, I just couldn't handle the coffee'

'You don't think you're…' Christina said looking around, 'pregnant?'

'I doubt it, I've got hostile cervical mucus. They said it would be hard for me…' Meredith said

'So, they said it would be hard? Not impossible though'

'Wait, what's the date?' Meredith said thinking of the other symptoms of pregnancy

'The 15th'

'Okay' Meredith said, 'We've got rounds'

Meredith was never late and she was, and she threw up this morning. Could she be pregnant? She was told she couldn't, she needed to find out.

'Morning Doctor Bailey' Meredith said walking up to her former resident along with the other residents

'Now that you are no longer interns, I don't have to control you and look after you. You now have your own patients and deal with them yourselves. But just because you are not looked after by me doesn't mean you can mess it up, I taught you, I brought you up. Do NOT make me look like an idiot' Bailey said to them

'Got it' Izzie said

'Yeah Doctor Bailey' Alex replied

'Right go on, go and work' Bailey said, all the residents apart from Meredith walked off

'Grey? You okay?'

'Err…yeah I'm fine' Meredith said clearly distracted, she needed to know if she was pregnant. She had to take her mind of it so she made her way down to the ER to see if anyone needed help

She walked into the ER to find a few patients and Christina.

'Doctor Yang, can I have a word?' Meredith said

'Sure' Christine replied stepping away from her patient, 'What's up?'

'I need you to do something for me'

'What?'

'I need you to get me a pregnancy test from the closet and meet me in the bathroom. I think I might be pregnant'

'Let me just finish my patient sutures then we can go'

'Thanks' Meredith said waiting for Christina

Once Christina had finished stitching up her patient the pair of them made their way up to another floor.

'You go and wait in the bathroom, I'll be a minute' Christina told her

'Okay' Meredith said. Meredith went to the bathrooms, while Christina went to the supplies closet to get her a test. What she didn't know is that Derek saw her walk out with the test.

'Have you got one?' Meredith said as Christina walked into the bathroom

'Yeah, I got one' Christina handed her the test 'Now, take it'

Meredith went into the cubicle and peed on the stick. She came out the cubicle and put the test on the side. She was still panicking, so she began pacing. She was walking up and down the bathroom. She paced for 2 minutes until the test was ready.

'I can't look at it' Meredith said, 'You look at it'


	7. Chapter 7

'It's positive' Christina said

'Are you going to tell Derek?'

'Well, yeah. I can't keep this from him'

'How are you going to tell him?'

'I don't know, I've only just found out' Meredith was excited, she was pregnant, 'We better get back to work. Oh Christina, don't tell anyone please'

'I won't'

Meredith spent the day avoiding Derek, she didn't want to bump into him just in case she burst into tears or blurted out that she was carrying his baby. She told Christina not to tell anyone until she has told Derek at least. She made her way home and just sat on the sofa in the living room watching Zola play with her toys. She just waited until Derek got home, then she heard him pull up in the drive way.

'Hey' Derek said walking in

'Err…hey' Meredith said

'You okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine'

'How's my little princess' Derek said picking Zola up from the floor

'Da-da' Zola said

'You're just perfect' Derek said, as he placed a kiss on his daughter's head then put her back down on the floor to play and he walked into the kitchen to get a drink

'How's Christina, I saw her walk out the supply closet with a pregnancy test' Derek said from the kitchen

'What?'

'Christina Yang, pregnancy test' Derek repeated 'I'm guessing her and Owen are having a baby. That's if she keeps the baby, since she didn't last time'

'I don't know, I'm sure she will talk to me at some point'

'I can't imagine Christina as a mom, Owen would make a great day. But Christina…no'

'You never know' She said, 'Derek can you come in here I've got something for you'

'Okay' Derek said walking into the living room and sitting down next to his wife. Meredith handed him three bags

'Open this one first' She said pointing at one of the bags, Derek opened the bag and took out the contents. He held it up, it was a t-shirt that said _Best Daddy in The World_

'Aww, Mer. Thanks' Derek said

'Now this one' Derek opened the second and it said _Best Mommy in The World_

'Guess this one is for you'

'Yeah, I had a weird feeling today. I felt soppy, so I went out and bought these. Now this one' Meredith said handing him the last bag. He took out the final t-shirt that said _Best Big Sister in The World_

'What?' Derek said reading it again, 'Are you?'

'Yeah' Meredith said smiling and tearing up

'We're having another baby' Derek said, 'We're having another baby'

Meredith nodded, then felt Derek's lips on hers.

'I can't believe it Mer' Derek said, meanwhile Zola had walked over to her parents and was stood holding onto the sofa. Derek picked Zola up, 'You're going to be a big sister'

'The pregnancy test you saw Christina with was for me, I did it in the bathroom. Then I found out and I wanted to tell you so much but I didn't want to do it in the hospital because it didn't seem the best way to tell you. So, I spent the day avoiding you so I didn't blurt it out' Meredith rambled quickly

'Do you know how far along you are?' Derek asked

'No, I'm not sure. I need to go and book in with an OB tomorrow so we can have a scan'

'Okay then, well I'll come with you'

'Derek, I'll only be booking the appointment'

'I know, but I want to be involved in every part of this pregnancy'

'Okay then, we can go and see Arizona Robbins tomorrow lunch' Meredith said

Derek made them all some, and then they went and put Zola to bed. Derek had a smile on his face for the whole night, it got even bigger when he looked at Meredith. It wasn't that late but they were both tired, so they got into bed and lay there together. Derek had his arm around Meredith, and she had her head resting on his chest once again.

The next morning, Derek woke up before Meredith so we went downstairs and made her breakfast. Meredith woke up to an empty bed, so she got dressed and got Zola ready then went downstairs.

'What is this Derek?' She asked surprised to see the table set with tea and pancakes

'I made you breakfast'

'Why?'

'Because you are my wife and I love you and you just happen to be pregnant. So, I have to make sure my baby has enough energy'

'You don't have to do this Derek' Meredith said putting Zola in her highchair then sitting down at the table next to her

'I know, but I want to'

'Okay then'

Meredith enjoyed her breakfast while she fed Zola at the same time and then they went to the hospital. After dropping Zola off at day care, Meredith walked to the resident lounge while Derek went to the attendings lounge.

'Hey' Meredith said walking in to the other residents

'Hey Mer' Izzie said

'How did he take it?' Christina asked

'Shh' Meredith said not wanting everyone to know about the pregnancy until she had had her scan

'Know what?' Alex asked

'It doesn't matter' Meredith said, Meredith and Christina walked out the lounge

'But it matters to Christina because she knows' Izzie said jealous of Christina and Meredith as they never involved her

'So how did he take it?' Christina asked again

'He was really excited, I just don't want to lose this baby. We're going to OB at lunch to book an appointment'

'Meredith Grey, having another baby' Christina said before walking off.

Meredith was on Derek's service today, since she had been on everyone else's all week. Derek was with the patient

'Okay, so Doctor Grey will be prepping you for surgery and scrubbing in' Derek said to the patient

'Is Doctor Grey nice?' The patient asked. The patient was 23-year-old Naomi Murray who had a tumor in her frontal lobe.

'She is very nice, but I have to say that cause she's my wife, but she is also a damn good surgeon' Derek said

Meredith walked into the room just after Derek had said that about her

'Doctor Grey' Derek said, 'You will be prepping Naomi for surgery and then scrubbing in with me'

'Okay then' Meredith said, she didn't know anything about the patient or what surgery they would be doing

'I'll see you after the surgery' Derek said to Naomi

'Doctor Shepherd' Meredith said as Derek headed towards the door 'Will we have time to go to OB after?'

'Yeah, we will have plenty of time. Don't worry'

Meredith prepped the patient for her surgery, then met Derek in the scrub room while the scrubbed in. The surgery took a few hours to complete, so once they had finished and scrubbed again they were on lunch so they went to OB.

'Hey, we would like to make an appointment for a scan' Meredith said to the receptionist

'Doctor Shepherd, Doctor Grey' Arizona said walking out one of the rooms

'Doctor Robbins'

'You two okay?' Arizona said walking over

'Yeah' Derek said, as the two of them walked over to her 'We need to book an appointment for a scan'

'Are you pregnant?' Arizona asked excitedly

'Yeah, found out last night. I don't know how far along I am' Meredith told her

'Well I have time to fit you in now if you like' Arizona told them

'Yeah?' Derek asked

'Yeah, that's fine by me'

'Aright then, come on in' Arizona said walking back into the room she had just come from.

'If you would like to take everything off from the waist down, here's a paper table' Arizona said smiling 'I'll wait outside until you are ready'

'Thanks' Meredith said

'So, who knows?' Derek asked

'Well, Christina. That's it. I was thinking we can keep it quiet until I'm further into it'

'Yeah that's fine by me, I'll tell my family when we tell everyone else' Derek said folding up Meredith's pants which she had taken off.

'You can tell them now if you like, you know what your family are like. They will moan if they found out you didn't tell them straight away' Meredith climbed onto the bed and signalled for Arizona to come back in.

'They can wait until you are ready'

'Right, let's have a look at this baby' Arizona said getting the jelly and machine ready, 'This will be a bit cold'

Arizona squirted the jelly onto Meredith's still flat belly and moved the sensor around to find the baby. After a few seconds she found the baby, and turned the screen to Derek and Meredith could see their baby.

'There's the baby' Arizona said

'Aww Derek' Meredith said starting to tear up

'Aww, Meredith. There's our baby' Derek said

'You're about 10 weeks'

Meredith stared at her baby and began to cry

'Aww, Mer. You don't need to cry' Derek said

'I know, it's just I never thought this would be me. I never thought I would be pregnant. Not after what we were told'

'Well believe it, it's coming true' Arizona said, handing her a photo of the scan

'There is a lot we can do to make sure this pregnancy is successful, right?' Derek asked Arizona

'Yeah, of course. We will be watching you like a hawk. Nothing will happen to this baby without us knowing about it'

'Thanks Arizona, oh. Can you not mention this to anyone, were going to keep it private. Just until we're ready' Derek said

'Yeah that's fine'. We can book you in for another scan in 2 weeks and you'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat'

'Sounds good, Thanks Doctor Robbins' Meredith said

Derek and Meredith left the OB office and went back to work. Meredith took the picture of the scan to put it in her bag. This pregnancy was the best thing to happen to Derek and Meredith. They had managed to keep it a secret from everyone. They went to the next scan and heard the baby's heartbeat, which made Meredith cry. They had found out the gender when Meredith was at 18 weeks, they were having a little boy.

They booked their next scan for 23 weeks, just to make sure everything was good right. To make sure the baby was growing properly.

'Hey' Christina said, 'How's the baby?'

'He's good, he is still kicking' Meredith said, everyone knew about the pregnancy now so they could speak normally instead of whispering

'Don't you have a scan today?'

'Yeah, during lunch. Meeting Derek at the OB'

'Let me know how it goes when you're done' Christina said, 'I better go, I have a surgery with Sloan'

'How long have you been interested in plastics?' Meredith asked

'I'm not, but I've been taken off cardio'

'Oh right, have fun then' Meredith said as her best friend walked off. She stood reading a chart when she was paged to the clinic. When she got there, she saw Alex stood at the nurse's station

'You paged?'

'Yeah, I need you to for a patient. She's as 13-year-old female'

'Okay' Meredith walked over to the patient who was stood there with her father

'I'm Doctor Grey, how can I help you?'

'My daughter, needs these' The man said handing Meredith a box of tampons, 'I don't know what to tell her, and her mother died a few years ago. So, I was hoping you could help'

'Of course, I can' Meredith said, she took one of the tampons out the box and explained to the young girl what she had to do. Once she had finished she asked her father to sign some paper work with Alex

'Doctor?' The young girl asked

'Yeah'

'Since you are pregnant' She started, Meredith was now showing, 'Do you think there is a chance that I could be pregnant. I had sex with a boy in my class last week'

'Your bloodwork shows that you are not pregnant'

'Oh, that's good' She said, 'Can you not tell my dad I asked you that'

'Of course, but make sure you are careful'

Meredith spent half the day in the clinic, she helped around 5 patients who mainly needed stiches or had a cold. She noticed the time and she had to go and meet Derek at the OB.

'Let's have another look at this baby, shall we?' Arizona said squirting the jelly onto Meredith stomach. Meredith didn't react to the temperature of the jelly, since she was now used to it.

'There he is' Arizona said finding the baby, then the sound of his heart started, 'Heartbeat is strong, just like last time'

Derek looked at the screen and saw his son, he then looked at Doctor Robbin's face which suddenly turned into a worried expression

'Arizona, what's wrong? Derek asked

'Is there something wrong?' Meredith asked worryingly

'You don't need to panic, the scans are showing fetal hydrocephalus' Arizona told them, 'That means there is a build-up of fluid under the baby's skull'

Meredith started to cry, she knew it was too good to be true. She was never going to have a plain sailing pregnancy.

'Is there anything you can do?' Derek asked, clearly devastated by the news

'We would have to do fetal surgery to place a shunt which will be implanted in the brain. This means the excess fluid will flow through the shunt to other parts of the body'

'I'm scared' Meredith cried

'I understand Mer, but I promised you that we would do everything to make sure your baby is healthy' Arizona told her

'I know'

'Is the surgery the best option?' Derek asked

'In my opinion yes, it has a very high success rate. Once you have the surgery you would have to stay in for a few days while you recover then we will keep a close eye on your baby'

'When can you book me in?' Meredith asked

'It is going to be best to do it as soon as possible, so we can get you in tonight'

'Thank you' Meredith said

'We can get you admitted now and get you a room'

Arizona admitted Meredith for the surgery and showed her to her room. Meredith didn't want everyone in the hospital to know that she was going to be having surgery, so she told Derek to only tell Christina. Once Meredith was in her room and changed into a gown, she lay in her bed crying.

'Mer' Derek said walking in, 'There's someone here to see you'

'Hey' Christina said walking in

'Hi'

'Everything is going to be fine you know, you are Meredith Grey. You have been through more than what people go through in a life time. You'll have this surgery and be back to work in a few days'

'I hope so'

'You will be Mer' Derek said, 'Oh the day care said they can keep Zola overnight while you have your surgery and I will go and pick her up when you've woke up'

'Okay' Meredith said, she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone

'I'll give you two some room, I'll be watching in the gallery' Christina said before leaving. The nurse that had admitted Meredith wrote her name on the OR board for everyone to see.

A few hours later, Arizona walked into the room to prep her for surgery

'We are going to take you down now' Arizona said

'Okay' Meredith replied

'I'm going to walk down with you' Derek said

'That's fine' Arizona said

Arizona prepped her patient for surgery and they took her down. When they got to the OR doors, Derek said his goodbye

'Everything is going to be okay Mer, I'll see you in a few hours' Derek said before placing a long kiss on her head.

Derek made his way up to the gallery, to see Christina was already sat there. They watched as they rolled Meredith in and put her onto the other bed. Within a few minutes, they had put her under general anaesthetic and she was lay there unconscious.

Just as the surgery started, there was a knock at the gallery door. Christina went to answer it as Derek didn't want to take his eyes off his wife. Christina walked back in followed by Miranda, Richard, Alex, Izzie and George

'We wanted to be here for you and her' Miranda said sitting beside Derek, while everyone else sat down

'Thanks guys' Derek said

Derek sat and watched as his wife was cut open and the brought the baby out temporarily so they could insert the shunt. It was so hard for him to watch, but he couldn't take his eyes off. He had tears in his eyes, and had one hand holding Miranda's hand and the other was being held by Christina.


	8. Chapter 8

**Just want to say thank you to everyone that has left a review on my chapters. I am really enjoying writing this. If you have any ideas for future storylines or what you want to happen please message me.**

Two hours later, the surgery was done and Meredith was back in her room recovering. Derek was sat beside her bed.

'De…Der' Meredith moaned as she began to wake up

'Mer' Derek said standing up and coming closer to his wife, 'How are you feeling?'

'Water' Meredith said as her mouth was dry after the surgery

Derek poured Meredith a cup of water and placed a straw in it before giving it to her. While she took a sip of the water he placed a kiss on her head

'I'll go and let Arizona know you're awake' Derek said, leaving her room and coming back a few minutes later.

'She will be round in a minute'

Five minutes later Arizona walked in holding Meredith's chart

'How are you feeling Meredith?'

'Good'

'How did the surgery go?' Derek asked

'It was a success, we will have to keep a close eye on you and the baby. But everything should be fine'

'Thank you, Arizona' Meredith said

'Now rest for the next few days and if your sats are fine you can go home. But you need to take it easy. I'll be back later to check on the baby' Arizona said before leaving the room

'See, everything is going to be fine. Now stop worrying and relax' Derek said from the side of her bed

'I know' Meredith said, 'Where's Zola?'

'She's at the day care'

'She's been there for ages now, you should go and get her. She's going to think we forgot about her'

'I'll go and get her, and bring her to see you'

'Thanks' Meredith said as Derek walked out the room. Once he was out the room and he couldn't see her and she started to cry. The surgery may have been a success but she knew that things could still go wrong. There was still a chance she could go into premature birth or problems once her son was born. She wiped away her tears when she saw her husband walking back towards her room. She saw him appear at her doorway holding their daughter's hands as she walked in front of him.

'Here she is' Derek said

'Ma-ma' Zola said spotting her mom, Derek picked her up and put her on Meredith's bed

'Hey baby' Meredith said, pulling Zola up to her and sitting her on her knee

'Be careful Mer' Derek said sitting back down beside them

'I know, I've just missed her'

'I know Mer, I know' Derek said, 'Just promise me that you will be careful when you get out of here, you can even slow down at work and do less hours'

'But I've only just become a resident and now I'm cutting down my hours'

'The chief will understand Mer, we can go and talk to him'

'Yeah okay' Meredith said holding her daughter

Once Meredith had been discharged by Arizona, her and Derek went to talk to the chief to see if Meredith could cut down her hours. Having the relationship that she has with the chief, he let her cut down her hours to 60 a week rather than 80. This meant she had less time at the hospital, so Zola could also spend more time with her mother. She promised Derek that she would take it easy at home, and they she would drive to the hospital and take the ferry across rather than drive all the way.

One afternoon, Meredith was on her way home from the hospital after finishing early and she was driving through Seattle to the ferryboat port. She was now at 29 weeks pregnant, and the baby was kicking a lot more. Zola was still at day care as Derek wanted to bring her home and spend time with her.

Meredith was driving down a main road through Seattle, when the lights in front of her turned green so she continued through when her car was smashed into my something. She sat in her car as it flipped and turned over. Once the car stopped moving, she lay in the car, which was on its side, unconscious.

Within minutes the paramedics were at the scene and were trying to treat Meredith. Once the firefighters had got her out of her car, they lay her on a gurney and put her into an ambulance. They took her to the nearest, which happened to be Seattle Grace.

'Incoming trauma, 2 minutes' Bailey shouted in the ER

In 2 minutes, there was a group of doctors stood in the ambulance bay waiting for the trauma. When it pulled up; Bailey and Burke ran to the back as Derek and Alex waited. The paramedic climbed out the back

'30-year-old jane doe, ID lost on route. Multiple injuries to the head, jane doe is pregnant' He said as he pulled the gurney out

'It's Meredith' Bailey said looking down at the patient, 'Get Shepherd out of the way'

'Bailey what is taking so long?' Derek shouted before running over

'Derek, it's Mer' Bailey broke it to him

'No, it isn't, she is on the way home' Derek looked at the patient, 'Meredith!'

'Karev, with me' Preston ordered, 'Bailey have you got Derek?'

'Yes'

'I'm coming with you' Derek cried

'No, you're not' Miranda said, 'Let the doctors do their work'

It took Doctor Bailey a while to calm Derek down, but once she had she told him he could be in the room but he wasn't touching or doing anything. Within minutes everyone in the hospital had heard what had happened, and Meredith's closest colleagues and friends were in the room trying to help her.

Callie was assessing Meredith's clearly broke arm, while Preston was trying to stabilise her breathing. Derek had called for the second-best neurosurgeon to treat her head wounds since he wasn't allowed. Doctor Lucy Fields was assessing the baby to make sure he was still alright and there was no damage to him.

'Let's get her to the OR now!' Richard shouted, all the surgeons pushed the bed to the elevator and down to the OR.

Doctor Nelson was working on Meredith's head lacerations and trying to stop the brain bleed while Preston was working on her heart. There was a small tear in one of her arteries. Lucy was sat to one side watching the fetal monitor, to make sure the baby didn't go into any distress. Derek was up in the gallery stood watching over his wife, making sure she was alright. He felt helpless. There was nothing he could do. It took the surgeons about two hours to treat all the major problems

'She needs time to recuperate' Preston said

'If we don't pack her and get out now, she's going to bleed to death' Bailey shouted

'Set up for a temporary abdominal closure' Richard ordered

'What happens now?' Christina asked Burke

'We get her up to the ICU and see if she lives for the next 24 hours. If she makes it we go in again'

'I want a Doctor with Grey at all times and someone keep an eye on Derek' Richard ordered again

Preston, Christina and Bailey took Meredith to the ICU, while Richard made sure someone would be with her when they got there.

'How's the baby?' Derek asked Lucy as she walked out the OR

'The baby is stable for now' Lucy said

'What's your plan? What if she starts contracting again? What is she has preterm labour? What if, god forbid, you have to deliver my baby?' Derek asked all the questions to her, he was scared. He was terrified that his son wouldn't make it

'I might be a little out of my depth here' Lucy told him, 'I'm sorry'

Derek stormed off, the only person that could help his son wouldn't be able to handle it. He knew that there was one definite person who could help him. He took his phone out his pocket and found the number

'Hi Addison…I need your help…it's Meredith…There was an accident, and the neonatal surgeon is useless…Please Addi…Thank you' Derek said down the phone, Addison was going to come and help his wife.

Derek made his way to his wife's room, when he got there he stood outside the room looking in through the glass doors. She was lay there, lifeless, connected to tubes and wires.

'She will pull through Derek' Richard said walking over to him

'You don't know that' Derek said through tears

'She's Meredith Grey, she will come through this'

'What if she doesn't? We have a daughter and we're having another baby. They need their mom'

'They will have her' Richard said, 'Why don't you go and sit with her'

Derek walked into his wife's room and placed a long kiss on her forehead before sitting down beside her bed and holding her hand.

'Meredith, it's me. I err… I don't know what to say. I love you Meredith, I need you. You need to pull through this, Zola and the baby need you. I need you' Derek said as tear fell down his face, 'Please, just move a finger, tell me that you can hear me'

Derek looked down at her hand to see if she moved, but nothing. Then there was a knock at the glass door, he looked up to see Lucy and Addison stood there, he signalled to come in

'I'm so sorry Derek' Addison said walking over to him

'What's going to happen?' Derek asked

'I am going to do everything I can to make sure this baby is stable' Addison tried to give him piece of mind, 'Why don't you go and get a coffee, you look like crap' She said with a smile, 'I'll stay with her'

'I'll be back in a few minutes' Derek said leaving

'Doctor Montgomery, there is a chance that the baby could survive if we deliver by C-section while she is stable' Lucy said

'No, there isn't. Because not only did you fail to stop her contractions, you didn't give steroids to the baby to mature his lungs. Get out'

'Doctor Montgomery…'

'Doctor Fields, get out. Doctor Shepherd may be my ex-husband, but he is still my friend. He is still my family, and Meredith. She is a close friend of mine. So please get out'

Derek went to get a coffee, and rang his mother while drinking it. He then nipped up to the day care. He spent a few minutes with his daughter before asking the staff if they could look after Zola until his mother could get out here to look after her.

A few hours later, Derek's mother hand flown in and was back at their house looking after Zola. Derek was still sat beside Meredith's bed holding her hand. Addison came in a few times to check the baby's vitals and Richard came in to check on Meredith. The other interns had been told to go home, but none of them had left the hospital.

Everything was calm until the machines started to beep rapidly.

'What's happening?' Derek shouted

'Belly's tight' Addison said feeling her belly

'Flash pulmonary edema, her lungs are full of fluid. Tell the OR we are coming down' Richard shouted

They got Meredith to the OR, where all the surgeons were prepared to do whatever it takes to help her. Derek knew that it wasn't looking good, so he was stood in the corner of the OR just in case. The surgeons were now cutting into his wife again, trying to find the problem. Things were starting to go downhill, which worried Addison.

'Pressure's down, 55 systolic' Richard shouted

'Pulse is down to 40 and dropping' Bailey shouted, before looking over to Derek who had pain in his eyes

'One of atropine! Might be an air embolus' Preston yelled, 'Hang more FFP'

'We're losing her' Richard shouted, Derek started to panic, his eyes were tearing up. Was he going to lose the love of his life.

'Push one of epi, and find whatever is bleeding and shut it down' Richard shouted

'Richard, you have one minute to get her heart back or I'm taking the baby out' Addison shouted after looking in Derek's eyes

Meredith's heart still wasn't beating, so Addison had to take the baby out. She made the cut and began to take the baby out. After a few minutes the baby was out and she passed the baby across to Arizona

'Is he breathing?' Derek asked running over, 'Arizona is he breathing?'

'Not got a heartbeat yet' Arizona said, 'Karev, I could use a hand'

'Continue compression suction through the tube' Arizona ordered

Karev and Robbins worked on the baby to try and get him breathing, while everyone else tried to get Meredith's heart beating still

'Bleedings controlled' Preston shouted

'ICP's stable' Richard said

'Meredith's coming back' Derek heard someone shout, now just to get the baby breathing

'Push nine CC's of LR, 05 CC's of epi and 5 of bicarb' Karev shouted

'I have a heart beat' Arizona said

'Mom's heart is strong' Bailey said

'Thank god' Derek said, his wife and baby were both breathing. They were both alive.

Richard had ordered the doctors to put Meredith in the ICU room closest to the NICU, so Derek could be close to both. He wanted to sit with his new born son but wanted to be with his wife. He spent an equal amount of time with both of them. They hadn't discussed names for the baby so he was named Baby Shepherd

'Hey Mer' Derek said from beside her, 'I've just been to see our baby. He's beautiful, he's 1 pound 1 ounce still. But there is still time for him to grow. He strong, he's fighting just like his mommy. He's got beautiful black hair Meredith, he hasn't opened his eyes yet but I know he is looking for you. Please Mer, we need you to come back to us'

'If you can hear me Mer, please give me a sign. I love you so much' Derek said before laying his head down on their joined hands

'I…ve..' Meredith tried to speak

'Mer?'

'Love…you' Meredith said


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a week since Meredith's accident and she was not conscious and stable. She was still in the hospital, as she hasn't fully recovered.

'Hey Mer' Derek said walking into her room carrying Zola

'Hey baby' Meredith said holding out her arms to hold Zola

'Be careful Mer'

'I know' She said sitting Zola on her knee

'Mer, we need to name our son' Derek said, they still hadn't had chance to since Meredith wasn't strong enough to see him yet

'I know, but I don't know what to call him'

'What about Bailey after Bailey. She did everything to make sure you were okay, and to make sure our son was okay. She looked after Zola for nights when I was here with you'

'Bailey sounds good' Meredith said, 'When can I see him?'

'If everything looks good later we can take you to see him'

'Okay, how is he?'

'He opened his eyes this morning, he has your eyes Mer. He looks just like you'

'I can't wait to see him' Meredith said, 'Do you want to see your brother?' She asked Zola

'Ma-ma' Zola was now one and a half, Derek threw her a party while Meredith was in the hospital. Meredith spent the day sat with Derek and Zola in her room until later on in the day when they were preparing her to take her to see Bailey. Derek helped Meredith into a wheelchair and asked Arizona to watch Zola.

Derek and Bailey took Meredith to see her son. They wheeled her into NICU and over to one of the incubators.

'There he is' Derek said pushing Meredith to the side of the incubator, 'There's our son'

'He's beautiful' Meredith said, 'Can I touch him?'

'Yeah' Bailey said opening the little door of the incubator, so Meredith put her hand through and held her sons hand

'Miranda, we have something we want to tell you' Derek said

'We have named our son Bailey' Meredith said

'Really?'

'Yeah, after everything you did for Meredith, everything you did for me' Derek said, 'You're the reason I still have my wife, you're the reason I didn't lose it'

'Thank you so much guys' Miranda said, 'I'll give you two some space'

'I love our family Derek' Meredith said, not taking her eyes off her son. Then Bailey slowly opened his eyes and looked at Meredith, 'Derek, he's looking at me'

'I told you he was looking for you' Derek said crouching down and rubbing his hand on Meredith's back.

The baby was now five weeks old, and weighed 3 pounds and 2 ounces. He is still in the incubator, Meredith was still in the hospital to make sure that she was fully healed as she went through a trauma. They had introduced Zola to Bailey and she loved him. Meredith and Derek made sure that Bailey always had a parent with him.

Seven weeks later and Meredith was in the NICU holding Bailey, who was now out the incubator and in a regular bed but still in the NICU.

'I was just coming to check on you' Miranda said walking over to them

'I just love to hold him' Meredith said

'So, it looks like you are strong enough to go home then' Miranda said

'Oh, okay' Meredith said, she didn't want to go home without her son. She didn't want him to be here alone.

'Do you want to wait for Derek?'

'Yeah, he will be round soon' Meredith said

Miranda left Meredith holding her son waiting for Derek to join them. Not long later, he came into the NICU

'Hey, you're looking good' Derek said walking in

'Thanks, Bailey said I can go home now'

'Aww that's great news' Derek said placing a kiss on her cheek

'Err…yeah' Meredith said, not showing much excitement about the prospect of being able to go home

'What's up?'

'I do want to go home, I really do. But I don't want to go without Bailey, I don't want to leave him here on his own. I know I can come back every day but what happens if something during the night when neither of us are here?'

'You don't have to go home Mer, but Zola has spent a lot of the time with Miranda and sleeping at hers'

'Can you not ask the chief if you can just work days then you can take Zola home?'

'Of course, I can Mer'

'Hey guys, how's the little man?' Arizona asked walking in

'He's good' Derek said

'Do you know when he can come home with us? Cause Miranda has told me that I can go home but I don't want to leave him' Meredith said

'You can take him home when he is able to sit in an infant carrier for an hour with no apnea of bradycardia'

'Can we test it now?' Derek asked

'Of course, we can' Arizona said, 'I'll go and get a carrier'

59 minutes later and Bailey had been sat in the carrier for the whole time with no problems. He had to do a full hour before being discharged. He was sat in the carrier in front of Meredith, Derek, Arizona, Bailey and Zola who was playing

'10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1' They all counted down

'He did it' Derek said

'Yes, he did' Meredith said walking over and taking Bailey out the carrier to hug him

'Does that mean he can come home?' Derek asked Arizona

'Yes, he can' Arizona said

'Congratulations guys' Miranda said

Hospital rules state that patients must leave in a wheel chair, so once Meredith had packed all her things she got in her wheel chair. They went and picked up Bailey from the NICU and Meredith carried him while Derek pushed her wheelchair and Zola walked holding onto the wheelchair.

Meredith didn't know if Bailey had a room prepared at home, whether or not he had anything. So when they got home, Zola ran inside to plan with her toys and Meredith carried Bailey in

'Come upstairs Mer, I have something to show you' Derek said

'Okay' Meredith said following him upstairs into what she thought was a spare room. As she walked in she almost cried at what she saw. The room that was plain not long ago, was now decorated in light blue space theme. With a cot in one corner, and a changing table, and a wardrobe with little clothes in for Bailey. Above the cot on the wall was individual letters in space theme which read Bailey.

'Derek, did you do this?' Meredith said

'I did most of it, Miranda and Richard helped'

'Richard?'

'Yeah. He said after everything that he did to you and your family that this was the least he could do to help'

'I love it Derek, he's going to love it'

'We also decorated Zola's room too' Derek said, 'Since she has been through a lot not having us around properly we wanted to do something for her'

'Shall we show her it?' Meredith said

'I'll go and get her' Derek said, as Meredith walked to Zola's room. It was pink, it was really pink. She had her name on the wall too, with a lot of toys in one corner and a new princess bed.

'I'm really tired' Meredith said after showing Zola her room

'Let's put these two to bed then we can have an early night' Derek said

'I'll sort out Bailey you can have Zola' Meredith said taking Bailey to his room. She changed his diaper, put him in some pyjamas and rocked him to sleep.

While Derek changed Zola, and read her a bed time story to fall asleep to. Then he went to his room to find Meredith not there yet.

When Meredith walked into her room, she saw something different. They used to have a little sofa underneath their window, but now there were a set of draws. On top of the draws there were a lot of photos. There was a photo of Meredith and Derek the day they got married, a photo of Zola when they first adopted her, a photo of Zola at her first birthday party, a photo of Bailey just after he was born and a photo of the four of them they took the day Bailey could come out his incubator.

'Did you do that?' Meredith asked

'No, it wasn't me' Derek said, 'Wait there's a letter'

Derek read the letter out loud;

 _I just wanted to do something for you, I know I haven't been your favourite person  
but this is the least I could do. I am sorry for everything I put you through.  
Take the next 2 weeks off, both of you and spend it with your family.  
Richard_

'He really is sorry for what he did' Meredith said, 'I'll talk to him and sort everything out when we go back to work'

'Okay, but for now let's just sleep'

They got into their bed and got comfy, Meredith lay in her usual position with her head resting on Derek's chest listening to his heart beat. She had missed this. She closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep when she heard Bailey start to cry over the monitor.

'I'll go' Derek said, 'You sleep'


	10. Chapter 10

'So, what's the plan for today?' Meredith asked her sisters-in-law

'We are going to go shopping, then for a meal, then cocktails and then we will see where the night takes us' Nancy said excitedly

'Sounds great' Amy said

The five girls got ready to go out, and made their way to the shops. Liz took them to her favourite dress shop so they could all get a new dress for going out later.

'Meredith, you sit here and we will all go and pick you an outfit each. You try them on and buy your favourite' Kate said, sitting Meredith down on a seat near the fitting rooms. Meredith waited about 20 minutes then the sisters each came back. They handed Meredith the outfits and she tried them on one at a time.

'You do know I am a mother and I am married' She said as she came out in a deep red, very short low v cut neck line dress before going back into the fitting room

'This one is okay' She said coming out in a black off the shoulder tight dress, 'I like this one' she said disappearing again

'Not too fond of this one' She said appearing in a pink and white strapless cocktail dress, then she went back

'I think this is the one' She said coming out in a black, long sleeved, low cut jumpsuit

'That's the one' Kate said

'You look gorgeous in that' Amy said

'That's the one I chose' Liz said

'Hot!' Kate said

'Have you got an outfit each?' Meredith asked them as she came out for the last time in her normal clothes.

'We got ours while you were changing' Kate said

'Let's go and buy them' Amy said excited, she loved buying new clothes

Meanwhile back at the house, Derek was feeding Bailey while Zola was playing on the floor with her dolls.

'I wonder how Mer is coping' Derek said

'She will be fine, she can handle your sisters' Carolyn said

'I hope so'

Once the girls had bought their dresses, they headed to the best restaurant in their town. They spent about 2 hours there drinking and eating before heading to Amy's who lived the closest to change into their new outfits. They went to the street which had about 5 bars on, and Kate knew some of the owners so she got free drinks. Meredith was having such a good night, it had been a while since she had been out like this.

7 hours later it was 1am and Meredith had just got into Carolyn's house and was trying to get to her room quietly. She may have been a bit drunk, or very drunk. She dropped her purse on the floor and kicked off her shoes before tip toeing to her room. She opened the door without it creaking and took off her jumpsuit and tried to put on her pyjamas. She looked over at her kids who were both fast asleep, and they looked gorgeous when they were asleep. She climbed into her bed and lay down without waking Derek up. She knew Bailey would be up in a few hours so she needed to try and get as much sleep as she can.

'Shhh' Derek said the next morning trying to calm Bailey who was crying

'Make it stop' Meredith said from under her pillow, she obviously was hungover

'Shhh' Derek said again, rocking Bailey in his arms and he fell back asleep

'How was your night?' Derek asked getting back in bed

'Good' Meredith said again from under the pillow. She slid her head from under the pillow and rolled over to look at Derek

'Well it looks like you had a good night' Derek said, looking at his wife whose hair was a mess and the makeup smeared down her face that she didn't take off

'Shh. You're being too loud'

'Do you want a coffee?'

'No, I just want to lie here in the quiet' Meredith said.

'Okay' Derek said putting his arm around Meredith and letting her sink into his body

'Now that my sisters have kidnapped you for a night, it's their job to look after these two for a night so I can spend it with my wife' Derek said

'Not tonight, I really don't feel well' Meredith grumbled

'Okay, but we are doing it before we go home. And since we only have 2 more nights here it will have the be the last night' Derek said

'That's alright' Meredith replied

The pair stayed like this for a while until Zola climbed onto the bed at the end and crawled up to them. She sat herself in between them, and looked around the room. Then she saw a picture beside the bed and stretched over to grab it.

'Da-da' She pointed at Derek on the photo, 'Ma-ma' She said pointing at Meredith

'Well done, who's that?' Derek asked pointing at Zola

'Zo-zo' Zola said smiling

'And that?'

'Ailey' She tried to say, not able to say his name properly yet

'Well done baby' Meredith said kissing the side of her head

'Me and mommy love you very much Zo-zo' Derek said

'We do' Meredith said, just as everyone went quiet Bailey started to cry again. Meredith got out of bed and picked up her son

'Heyy' Meredith said trying to calm him down, 'shh' She said

He eventually stopped crying and lay looking up at Meredith. She looked down at her handsome boy, long beautiful eyelashes, a cute button nose and Derek's black hair. She was absolutely in love with him, he was very special to her. She thought she would never have him, and then she could have lost him. But thankfully he was here, with them, a strong little boy with a huge life ahead of him.

'I'm going to change him then feed him' Meredith said before leaving the room

Meredith took Bailey into the bathroom and changed his diaper. Once she had washed her make up off and threw her hair up into a messy bun, she walked out and went to the kitchen. When she walked into the kitchen she put Bailey in his highchair and prepared his bottle. When It was ready she picked him up went and sat in the armchair and fed her son.

Derek got out of bed and got dressed before getting Zola dressed. They were going to have a relaxing day before they had to go home. Once she was dressed the pair of them left the bedroom and went into the kitchen

Derek prepared her breakfast and poured himself a coffee before joining his wife and son in the living room. Zola climbed onto the arm chair next to Meredith and sat and ate her breakfast while Meredith fed Bailey. Derek sat on the sofa and looked at his family

They were perfect. He had an amazing, beautiful wife who had given him two of the most important people in his life. His cute daughter who at first was a patient, who he never thought would adopt. And his handsome son, he never thought they would have. They were perfect. He never wanted to lose any of them, he didn't know what he would do without them. They were his everything; his world, his life, his dream come true.

When he was with Addison he never saw himself having kids, or being this happy. They both just worked all the time, but when he met Meredith. He knew straight away that he wanted this woman to be his wife, to be the mother of his kids. He wanted to stay with Meredith forever, and grow old together. Tell the grandkids the dramatic stories they have been through, and he wanted to die in her arms when he was 110.


End file.
